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Triajfc gißa? a& From tho Literary World GRISWOLD’S PARNASSUS* American poets are increasing with commendable rapidity. Dr. Griswold can catch a handful for anew edition at any moment, but we do not find a correspond ing increase of poems. That is quite an other question. It is a harmless thing enough to glean occasional verses from the corners of newspapers, and publish them in a volume for whoever chooses to buy, but notwithstanding the well preserv ed formulas of literary reputation, the puff, the biography, (to which that of Parish clerk, P. P., is profound in interest by comparison,) the whole has a meagre, un real look. It is a fast country, apparently, where a yesty young poet can write half a dozen copies of verses one day, and be bottled down for immortality the next. But, after all, there is nothing in it. Poets are not littered into the world at this rate. The compiler is not necessarily a critic or liter ary historian. He may be simply a man ufacturer of a big octavo out of raw mate rial, a species of literary directory’ maker, with whom one name serves the purpose quite as well as another. In trade, all shopkeepers are merchants; in Griswold, all versifiers are poets. The late guardian of the news-room at the Society Library, Mr Trappan, of estim able memory, was accustomed, as we learn from a pleasant sketch by Cornelius Ma thews, to amuse his hours of summer leis ure by a destructive onslaught upon every species of insect which entered the build ing. From the elephantine to the micro scopic, he impaled them all. And duly framed and glazed, a stout pin through their backs, they graced a mahogany case, and constituted “The Natural History of the Library.” What the ingenious Trap pan, in his luminous field of operations, was to science, Griswold is to literature. To a minnow, he bags them all. The first faint insect buzzings are perceptible to his ear. Indeed, he is so accustomed to these gentle utterances, that it is to be feared a good genuine roar would annihilate him. We do not pretend to say that any other man could do this kind of work better than Dr. Griswold, for we are not at all certain that anybody else could be found to do it at all. It is but justice, however, to the edi'or to say, that he appears to labor under an uneasy sense of the peculiar embarrass ment of his calling : writing criticisms, for instance, where ihere is really nothing to observe, and biographies, where there is nothing to record. He virtually admits this in his preface, but why encounter the diffi culty, or seek to foist upon the world me diocrity in a volume which makes preten sions to a National character? “ I believe,” says the editor, “I admitted nothing inferi or to passages in the most celebrated for eign works of like character.” This is but a poor apology, though it has the pro tection of Dr. Johnson and others, who put stupid authors, to the neglect of many re ally great ones, in their collections. A better excuse is the difficulty of an editor with a particle of humanity or hospitality about him, making a book up from his contemporaries, and refusing any plausible comer entrance. The revision of the list must be left to posterity, and we consign it to our successors, in the hundredth volume of the Literary World, to record the pro cess. There are exactly one hundred male American poets according to Dr. Griswold, the females having been carefully sifted out in the present edition. These sit at the first table, and their names are entered in his octavo in small caps. There are a few others, some fifty or so “ various authors,” as they are called, who are huddled togeth er at the fag-end of the entertainment, and whose names are in lower-case; small-fry, we presume, whom piscator Griswold is feeding up for another edition; star dust for future planets. In Europe a nation is lucky if it have a poet in a century ; we are more fortunate, for we have a century of poets. And while the old world rejoices in a Southey, a La Harpe, a Villemain, a Sismondi, a Tiraboschi, America glories in her Griswold. The manifold editor, we speak confident ly, must be aware of the fun of the thing himself, as he sits down to cut and carve a new edition of American poets; to enlarge or diminish with a clip of the scissors, the area of the American Parnassus. On principles best known to himself is this thing administered. We have compared edition with edition, one puff preliminary with another put! preliminary, but have got no wiser, no nearer to the secret of the operation. There appears to be in Dr. Griswold’s mind a “sliding-scale” of repu tation. The small author, the author, i. e. in small type of one edition, is a great au thor in capitals in the next. Some are occasionally discarded : others are admit ted without passing through the small type of the index. They blossom at once in full expansion. Lost pleiads are missing from the Griswold constellations, but new planets are discovered to fill the void. Cloudy nebule (in small type) are kept in view for further operations of the tcle •Tiie Poets axd Poettiy of America, to the Middle oi the 19th Century. By tiufus Wilroot Griswold, i enth Ldition. Carey &, Hart. scope. For some unaccountable reason or other, unknown to the deponent, the author of “ Lexington,” who appears in the eighth edition, is omitted altogether from the tenth, though his claim is at least quite as good as that of many others to a distin guished place in the volume. Henry B. Hirst, Cornelius Mathews, and James T. Fields have been discovered to be stars of a higher magnitude than formerly, and are promoted from the small type accordingly. General Morris was brevetted in a previous edition, somewhere about the sixth. But the year 1849 has developed discoveries quite out of the bounds of Dr. Griswold’s system. Jedediah Huntington. William Allen Butler, J. M. Legare, Bayard Taylor, George 11. Boker, Charles G. Eastman, R. H. Stoddard, have leaped over the Freshman class and graduated at once A. B.—American Bards, in Dr. Griswold’s nice little poetical University. Such is the progress of the “ The Poets and Poetry of America to the Middle of the Nineteenth Century.” What the next fifty years will produce we know not; but we have faith. Griswold has taught us not to despair of the Republic. To recur to our astronomical illustration, we are wiser than our ancestors; we live in an age of discovery. What appeared to them mere dust and cloud in the heavens, new telescopic powers resolve into powerful suns, the centres of systems. Why should the intellectual world be behind the physi cal 1 Why may not the dim opacity of the poets’ corner, as another milky way, be resolved into Drydens, Miltons, and Shaks peares 1 sun > TERRESTRIAL MAGNETISM. We have received a pamphlet contain ing an essay from the Journal of Science, by Prof. William A. Norton, of Delaware I College, upon terrestrial magnetism , which seems to us likely to attract considerable J attention from scientific persons, as it pro fesses to have arrived at new results in re gard to this subject, of no small interests and importance. In a previous paper, published by the Journal of Science some time since, Prof. Norton developed anew theory of terres trial magnetism, based upon the two fun damental notions, that every particle of mat ter on the earth’s surface, and fora certain depth below the surface, acts magnetically upon the compass needle, with a force ex erted in the direction of a tangent line to the circumference of a circle supposed to be traced around the particle as a centre and passing through the needle, and that molecular force depends for its intensity upon the temperature of the particle. He showedthat his theory furnished acomplete explanation of all the great facts and laws of the general magnetic action of the earth upon the needle, and also subjected it to the test of figures—of a rigid comparison with observations over all parts of the northern hemisphere of the earth. Among the results obtained in this paper arc some of general interest. One conclu sion is, that the magnetic forces which give the needle its polarity, so far from having their seat at the distant pole, or deep in the mass of the earth, they lie immediately around the station of the needle. They are the result of the joint action of all the par cles of matter which lie immediately around and within a certain distance from the nee dle. Another interesting conclusion is that the intensity and direction of the force with which the earth acts upon the magnetic nee dle, is dependent upon the mean tempera ture of the place, and the amount to which the mean temperature varies in proceeding any given distance, in different directions, from the station of the needle—so that the magnetic needle by its direction and force is an index, at the same time, of the mean temperature of the place, and of all the in equalities of mean temperature that subsist for a certain distance around. In the present memoir Professor Norton has undertaken a thorough mathematical discussion of the diurnal variations of the direction and force of the needle, and has traced them in all their mintis to the effects, direct or indirect, of the daily variations of temperature. According to his views, they are gener ally different effects of the cotemporaneous action of the antagonistic causes, viz : the daily variaiionsof temperature, and the dai ly variations in the quality of moisture at the earth’s surface. Thus the magnetic needle iremblesand moves responsively to every variation of temperature,and every rise or fall of vaporat the surface of the earth.— It gives notice of the fall of dew at night, and of the evaporation that occurs during the morning hours, and measures the amount of each. This is truly a remarka ble result, which teaches us to look upon the magnetic needle in the new light of a meteorological instrument, as a sort of uni versal meteorological register or index.— But the chief interest which attaches to these investigations lies in the fact that they have furnished so striking a confirma tion of the general theory, which Professor Norton has so systematically elaborated.— A 1. Courier If Enquirer. FACTS IN NATURAL HISTORY. A globe placed in water, or in air, in moving meets with resistance, and its ve losity will be retarded. If you alter the globe to the form of an egg. there will be less resistance. And then there is a form called the solid of least resistance which mathematicians studied for many years to discover; and when they had discovered it, they found they had the form of a fish’s head ! Nature had ‘rigged out’ the fish with just such a figure. The feathers of birds, and each particu lar part of them are arranged at such an an gle as to be most efficient in assisting flight. ll®ollii® distil The human eye has a mirroi on which ob jects are reflected, and a nerve by which these reflections are conveyed to the brain: and thus we are able to take an interest in the object which passes before the eye. — Now, when the eye is too convex, we use one kind of glass to correct the fault; and if it be not convex enough, or if we wish to look at objects aV a different distance, we use glasses of entirely another description. But as birds cannot get spectacles, Provi dence has given them a method of supply ing this deficiency. They have the pow er of contracting the eye,of making it more convex, so as to see the specks which float in the atmosphere and catch them for food; and also of flattening the eye, to see a great distance, and observe whether any vulture or enemy is threatening to destroy. In ad dition to this they have a film, or coating, which can be suddenly thrown down over the eye to protect it; because at the veloc ity with which they fly, and with the deli cate texture of their eye, the least speck of dust would act upon it as a penknife thrust into the human eye. This film is to pro tect the eye, and the same thing exists to some extent, in the eye of the horse. The horse has a large eye, very liable to take dust. The coating in the horse’s eye is called the haw, or third eye-lid; and if you will watch closely, you may see it descend and return with electric velocity. It clears away the dust and protects the eye from in jury. If the eye should catch cold, the haw hardens and projects, and ignorant persons cut it off, and thus destroy this safeguard. —Professor Mopes. A Beautiful Piece of Mechanism.— The Gateshead Observer mentions having seen under a glass shade, the size of a la dy’s thimble, a steam-engine that might have served for a cotton mill in Lilliput. The whole machinery, fly-wheel included, stands upon a two-penny piece, yet so ex act is the workmanship, that when a steam pipe is applied, for there is no boiler, the engine is immediately set in motion, and works with admirable precision. Ship Timber Machine. —A Yankee has invented a machine for preparing the irreg ular-shaped timber employed in ship-build ing. Two of these machines are now in op eration in the Woolwich dock-yard, and the inventor, Mr. Cochran, is about to estab lish an extensive depot of ship timber in New York, where with the aid of his ma chinery he may be prepared to execute or ders for ship timber of any form or size,to any extent. So says the Journal of Com merce. Glass. —This was long considered a mod ern invention. Within fifty years,four quar to volumes were written in Italy to prove that it was unknown to the ancients, and on the very day that these volumes were published,a warehouse was opened in Pom peii filled with cut, wrought, pressed and stained glass. A SETTLER’S STRATAGEM. Did you ever hear of “Old Smith,” that used to live away down east, during the early settlement of the country now called Maine 1 Old Smith had lost several rela tions by the hands of the Indians, and had vowed eternal enmity to the whole race. He had been twice taken by the savage tribes, but contrived to escape from them, and had killed several of their number. He sought every opportunity to do them mischief in any way. By this course he had become so exceedingly obnoxious tothe red men, that they would not even kill him if they could, but were almost con stantly on the watch to take him alive, for the purpose of satisfying their revenge, by the infliction of the utmost torture that barbarity could invent. Smith was aware of this disposition of the savages, and was the less afraid of their bullets. It is reported that Smith was at one time engaged in splitting some pine logs for fence rails, and in the ardor of his employment he had neglected his “look out,” till six Indians came upon him with a yell of exultation. The chief of the party, whose name was V/ahoos, seized him by the arm, exclaiming, “Now Smit! now Smit! me got you.” Smith saw that it would be in vain to re sist, and assuming an air of composure, thus addressed his captor: “Now, VVahoos, I will tell you what I will do; if you will help me to split open this log, I will then go with you without any resistance; otherwise I will not walk a step, and you will have to carry or kill me.” The Indians, now having him safe in their possession, and willing ,o save them selves trouble, agreed to help split the log. if he would show them how. Smith had already opened one end of the log with a large wooden wedge, and renewing his blows on the wedge with a beetle, he directed them to take hold of the sepa rated parts of the log, three on each side, and pull with all their might, while he should drive the wedge. The red men were not without suspicions, and kept their eyes on Smith's motions, while they pulled at the sundered part of the log. Every blow of Smith opened the crevice wider, which enabled the Indians to renew their holds by inserting their fingers deep er into the crevice, when Smith slightly changing the direction of the beetle, struck oil the side of the wedge, knocking it out of the log, which closing with great force, caught every foe by the hands, save one, who seeing the predicament of his com panions, took to his heels, but was quick ly brought down by Smith's long barrel led gun, which he had kept near him. The other five expected no mercy, and were not disappointed. Five blows from Mr. Smith's axe silenced their death-song. DIANA OF POITIERS. At this period. 1535, the widow of Louis de Breze, (Diana of Poitiers,) had already attn ucil her thirty-first year, while the Prince Henry was only in his seventeenth ; and at the first glance it would appear as though so formidable a disparity of age must have rendered any attempt on her part, to engage the affections of so mere a youth, alike abortive and ridiculous; but so perfect had she preserved even the youthful bloom, which had added so much to her attractions on her first appearance at court, that she appeared ten years younger than she actually was. Her features wert regular and classical; her complexion faultless; her hair of a rich purple black, which took a golden tint in the sunshine ; while her teeth, her ancles, her hands and arms, and her bust, were each in their turn the theme of the court poets. That the extraordinary and almost fabulous duration of her beauty was in a great degree due to the precautions which she adopted, there can be little doubt, for she spared no effort to secure it; she was jealously careful of her health, and in the most severe weather bathed it. cold water; she suffered no cosmetic to approach her, denouncing every compound of the kind as worthy only of those to whom nature had been so niggardly as to compel them to complete her imperfect work ; she rose every morning at six o’clock, and had no sooner left her chamber than she sprang into the saddle ;. and after having galloped a league or two, returned to bed, where she remained until mid-day, engaged in reading. The system appears a singular one, but in her case it undoubtedly proved successful, as alter having enslaved the Duke d’Orleans in her thirty-first year, she still reigned in absolute sovereignty over the heart of the King of France when she had nearly reached the age of sixty! It is certain however, that the magnificent Diana owed no small portion of this ex traordinary and unprecedented constancy to the charms of her mind, and the bril liancy of her intellect.— Miss Pardoe. DONKEY RACING IN ALEXAN DRIA. I have ahvays admired a donkey, since I read John Forrester’s Essay on “Decis ion of Character,” but the donkeys of Al exandria, I particularly affect. They are of the famous Maltese breed ; and plump and sleek, fleet and sure, spirited and stur dy', mettlesome and muscular. They are the gallantest quadrupeds I have seen this many a day. They are attended by boys from 10 to 15 years of age—sun burt, sharp-boned, stripplings. w’hose only garment is a ragged shirt of blue cotton. These youngsters are keen and quick, are all masters of a little English, have won derful coolness and assurance, and are al ways on the look-out for a customer, es pecially an English one, since he is fa mous for butksheesh. If you are a stran ger, the moment they spy you, on they rush shouting, “Massa you berry good donkey—go to Bombay Billar —go to Cle opatra Needle—berry good donkey—go quick.” “ Dat boy. berry great liar—-here look rmj donkey—he go like one big steamer;” these and fifty other cries as sail you, the boy's all the time stirring up their donkeys, so as to bring out their best points, and every one crowding and push ing for the preference. Jostled on all sides, and perplexed with the confusion, you take an animal at random and mount. But the little ragamuffins were not born yesterday, and this, by no means set tles the matter. They only hem you in, and press on you more closely, to make you change your mind ; and if rather in nocent, they will not scruple to seize you by the leg and haul you off bodily. Rich, indeed, it would be, to see one of your good nonresistants mollifying these young scamps, with the unction of moral suasion. My crabstick I have found the only effec tive remedy. Show some determination, and you are released, and away’ y r ou go in a beautiful gallop, the boy behind punch ing the donkey with a. sharp stick, and jabbering broken English about bucksheesli, or shouting shimuleck.’ to the obstructing crowd.— Scenes in the East. AMERICAN WAR-STEAMERS. We publish from a London paper the following paragraph referring to the back wardness of our people in reference to the construction of ocean steamers, as com pared with the progress of Gieat Britain in that particular: “ Considering the vigilance with which the Americans have maintained the gen eral effectiveness of their navy, it does seem somewhat singular, that they should have suffered themselves to fall in arrears in this one particular department. Noth ing can exceed the care which is shown in American dock-yards for the thorough efficiency, according to the highest known standard, of every vessel which is launch ed. All improvements in armament, rig ging, gunnery, 6cc., are introduced and ap propriated without a moment’s delay, and when an American frigate does put to sea she is still as perfect a model of her class as the old Chesapeake or Constitution. There was more in the American marine than met Mr. Cobden’s eye, for little show is made, although there is a good deal in store. Even in the matter of steamers we should not be surprised if they were doing more than is imagined. They have cer tainly four first class steam frigates on the stocks, every one of which according to their system of ship-building, is likely to be larger and heavier than our Terrible ; the single “ wholesome Man-of-war” which our steam fleet can show. It way be as sumed with the most perfect certainty, that when ail American steamer does show : herself on the seas, she will be a fair ! match in point of material , for any thing likely to meet her from any port of Europe."’ SPANISH ETIQUETTE. BY D’ISRAELI. The etiquette or rules to be observed in the royal palaces is necessary, writes Baron Bieficld, for keeping order at court. In Spain it was carried to such length as to make martyrs of their kings. Here is an instance, at which, in spite of the fatal consequences it produced, one cannot re frain from smiling. Philip the Third was gravely seated by the fireside : the fire-maker of the court had kindled so great a quantity of wood, that the monarch was nearly suffocated with heat, and his grandeur would not suffer him to rise from the chair; the do mestics could not presume to enter the apartment, because it was against the eti quette. At ‘length the Marquis de Potal appeared, and the king ordered him to dampen the fires: but he excused himself, alleging that he was forbidden by the eti quette to perform such a function, for which the Duke d’Usseda ought to be called upon, as it was his business. The duke was gone out; the fire burnt fiercer; and the king endured it, rather than dero gate from his dignity. But his blood was heated to such a degree, that an erysipe las appealed the next day, which, succeed ed by a violent fever, carried him off in 1621, in the twenty-fourth year of his age. The palace was once on fire ; a soldier, who knew the king’s sister was in her apartment, and must inevitably have been consumed in a few moments by the linmes, at the risk of his life rushed in, and brought her highness safe out in his arms: but the Spanish etiquette was here wofully broken into! The loyal soldier was brought to trial, and, as it was impocsible for him to deny that he had entered her apartment, the judges condemned him to die! The Spanish princess, however, condescended, in consideration of the cir cumstance, to pardon the soldier, and very benevolently saved his life! AN INCIDENT. About ten months ago, Mr. John M. Spear, upon one of his usual visits to the Police Court one morning, noticed among the prisoners a youth who was pooriy clad, and for some cause was weep ing. The philanthropist sat down by his side, and the following conversation en sued : ‘Why are you here, my son ?’ ‘I am accused of selling newspapers, sir, without a license.’ ‘Are you guilty V ‘Yes. sir.’ ‘Have you been arrested be fore’’ ‘Yes, twice.’ ‘What for?’ ‘For selling newspapers.’ ‘Why do you per sist in doing it?’ ‘Because I dont know what else to do, to get a living.’ ‘Have you a father?’ ‘No, sir; my father is dead.’ ‘ls your mother living?” ‘My mother is a drunkard ; she does not take any care of me ; I don't know where she is now.’ As he uttered these last words, the deep waters of the little fellow’s soul burst forth afresh, and he expressed his grief. ‘Where do you lodge ?’ continued the philanthropist. ‘Near Union street, sir; I pay ninepence a night for my lodg ing, in advance, and I buy two plates of beans in the course of the day, for which I pay as much more.’ ‘How do you spend your evenings ?’ ‘1 walk about the streets or go into the auction rooms.’ ‘Why don’t you sit down in the house where you lodge, by the fire, and read ?’ ‘Because the woman of the house is poor. She has no room for me at her fire.’ ‘Would you like to go into the country and work, if a place could be obtained for you ?’ ‘Yes, sir, I would be glad to go and work for my living. I dont want to stay in Boston: but 1 have nobody to get a place for me. I don’t want to go down to the jail again.” After some conversation, the Judge re duced the fine to one cent and cost, which the philanthropist paid, and then taking the boy by the hand, they both left the court. Now for the sequel. Mr. Spear took the boy to his own house, and supplied I him with food and clothing, and then ob tained a good place for him in the country. Last week, the day before Thanksgiv ing, the grateful boy, for the first time, came into the city to see his benefactor. He has been steadily at work at the place which Mr. Spear provided for him, and is still at work there, earning nine dollars a month and his board. Such is the lesson which charity teach es us. YVe will not moralize upon the evil which would have pursued that boy, had he been left to the mercy of the Po lice Court, but thank the generosity of him whose only wish is to heal the wounds of woe, and who always * * hath a tear for pity, ami a hand Open as the day lor melting charity. for his noble service in the cause of hu manity. —Chronot ype. A TRANCE. Thespius of Soli fell violently on his neck, and was supposed to be dead. Three days after, however, when about to be in terred, he recovered. From this time, a wonderful change was apparent in his conduct : for he had been licentious and prodigal, but ever after was devout, noble, j and conscientious. On his friends inquiring J the reason of this strange conversion, he stated that during his apparent death, his rational soul had experience and strange vi- j cissitudes ; his whole being seemed at first ! on a sudden to breathe, and to look about it on every side, as if the soul had been all eye, while, at the same time, he felt as 1 if gliding gently aolng, borne upon a stream of light. Then he seemed to meet a spiritual person of unutterable loveliness, who conducted him to various parts of the unseen world, and explained to him j the mysteries of divine government, and showed him the manner in which wicked ness meets its reward. This vision exert ed all the influence of truth upon his mind, and entirely altered his character and conduct.— Dr. Newman's “ Fascinna tion.” POWER OF IMAGINATION. An honest New England farmer started, on a very cold day in winter, with his sled and oxen to the forest, half a mile from home, for the purpose of chopping some wood. Having felled a tree, he drove the team alongside, and commenced chopping it up. By an unlucky h't he brought the bit of the axe across his foot, with a sidelong stroke. The immense gash so alarmed him as to deprive him of all strength. He felt the warm blood fill ing his shoe. With great difficulty he succeeded in rolling himself on the sled, and started the oxen for home. As he reached the door he called eagerly for help. His terrified wife and daughter, with much effort, lifted him into the house, as he was wholly unable to help himself, saying his foot was nearly severed from his leg. He was carefully laid on the bed, groaning all the while very bitterly. His wife hastily prepared dressings, and removed the shoe and sock, expecting to see a desperate wound : when lo ! the skin was not even broken. Before going out in the morning, he wrapped his feet in red flannel to pro tect them from the cold ; the gash laid this open to view, and he thought it flesh and blood. His reason not correcting the mis take, all the pain and loss of power which attend a real wound followed. Man of ten suffers more from imeginary evils than from real ones. THE BOTTLE TRICK BEFORE THE QUEEN. On Monday, (Prince Albert’s birth day,) during the Festivities at Balmoral, the Wizzard of the North, Professor Anderton, was present, and was asked if he would perform the feat they had heard so much of his having done successfully—“ The Inexhaustible Bottle.” On receiving the royal command to per form it, he called for a champagne bottle, and handed a large number of glasses round, and asked Lord Portman what he would drink. His Lordship replied whis key—whiskey was poured out. Mr. An ton preferred brandy, which he got. Sev eral demanded wine, which passed freely: and one of the proprietors of the royal distillery, Mr. Begg, thinking to baffle the professor, asked him if he could give him a glass of his best Lochnager whiskey. No sooner said than done : and the Loch nager whiskey became in great demand. A large number of additional glasses were distributed, and some called IV Irish whis key, numbers brandy—the Highlanders patronized Mr. Begg; when Lord John Russell, perhaps, like Mr. Begg, wishing to try the Wizzard’s skill, asked for a glass of rum, which was immediately supplied, and his lordship pronounced it excellent. The London portion of the domestics and police called for gin, which was freely poured out of this extraordinary bottle; and the Wizzard wms returning lo his seat, when his royal highness, anxious to test the bottle—presuming, as he was re turning, that it was exhausted —asked if more could be poured out. Glasses were brought for her Majesty and Prince Al bert, and, on being asked what they pre ferred, requested Begg’s best Lochnager, which linmmediately ran forth, and her Majesty and the Prince, tasting it, ac knowledged its purity; and the Wizzard gave the bottle to the Prince, and asked him to look if it was empty —it was. Mr. Anderton brought some water, and, in the Prince’s hand, filled it, ordered glasses, and asked the Prince what wine he preferred. Port was selected. The Prince poured port, and then sherry, then milk, then champagne, then broke the bottle, and in it was discovered a beautiful turtle-dove. —Caledonia Mercury. The Kooh-i-noor Diamond. The great diamond captured lately at Lahore by the English army, and which is the largest, the most beaulitul, and the most valuable gem that is to be found in the world, is not to go to the Crown, that is.jto Queen Victoria, as booty, but is taken by the English East Company f 1! on account;” that is, as the English papers say, “ it is to be appropria ted to the liquidation of the accumulated debt due by one of the States to the Indian government.” And it was stipulated by treaty that this disposition should be made of it, otherwise it would have been military booty, and as such, have been at the dispo sal of the British sovereign. The Kooh-i ----noor diamond weighs about one thousand carats, and as the value of diamonds is cal culated by lipidaries and others, must be worth several millions of dollars. Troth in Social Relations. Under this head come the practices of making speech vary according to the person spoken to; of pretending to agree with the world when you do not; of not acting according to what is your deliberate and well advised opinion because some mischief may be made of it by persons whose judgment in the matter you do not respect; of main taining a wrong course for the sake of consistency; of encouraging the show of; intimacy with those whom you never can be intimate with ; and many things of the same kind. These practices have elements of charity and prudence as well as fear and meaness in them. Let those parts which correspond to fear and meanness be put aside. Charity and prudence are not parasitical plants which require poles of falsehood to climb up upon. It is often j extremely difficult in the mixed things of j this world to act truly and kindly too; but j therein lies one of the great trials of a man that his sincerity should have kindness i„ it, and his kindness truth.— Friends m Council. NEWS GLEANINGS. Hydrophobia. At a recent meeting 0 f the French Academy of Sciences, M. Arago announced that M.d’Hericourt, just return ed from his travelsin Abyssinnia, has bro't with him a medicament, which he had seen employed, with entire success, in cases of hydrophobia. The traveller offered a quan. tity of it, sufficient for all necessary expei iments. A Literary Swindler. Edward Youl is the name of the individual who has been soliciting the nobility of England in behalf of Mary Howitt, representing her in a most destitute condition, and pocket ing the money. It is supposed that heand his wife have come to America. He is about thirty years of age, sallow complex ion, and live feet two inches high—dark hair, supposed to be a wig. Casualty. We learn from a gentleman who was present when the accident occur red, that two negro boys were lost over board from the steamer Oregon, a few miles below this city, yesterday morning, anil both drowned. They were hauling upon a rope at the moment, and were dragged overboard into the Savannah. One, we understand, belonged to a lady of this city, the other was a free negro.— Augusta Sen tinel 12th inst. Prokits of Plank Roads. The Water ville and Utica road, nineteen miles long, and costing $34,000, has just declared a dividend of 10 per cent, laid by for repairs. The Utica and Bridgewater road, twenty miles long, and costing $40,000, pays 25 per cent. Failure in Boston. A letter from Bos ton says that the New Year brought along with it the failure of a firm of drygoods merchants much respected, in the neighbor hood of Milk street. Their style was Cragin, Grcenleaf & Cos. It is said their assets show a surplus of nearly $60,000, and their failure created much surprise. Jl®“Mr. Thomas Williams had his pock et picked at the New Orleans Post Office, on the 31st of December, of a pocket book containing SI9BO in money, and a large number of valuable papers. Rabbi Raphael, the celebrated He braist, has accepted an invitation to preside over the congregation of the Synagogue, in Elm street, New York. A6y* The slate trade of New York and Boston for the year 1849, it is estimated, will amount to nearly $75,000,000 in value. This commerce is said to double itself every four years. In 1844 it was no more than $34,000,000. ffigy“*ln the National Assembly of France, on the 20th ultimo, M. Charres submitted a proposition for the immediate sale of the diamonds of the crown, which are valued at nearly 21,000,000 of francs. Santa Anna, the Mexican General, is, it is said about applying to the Jamaica Le gislature for the privilege of becoming a citizen, thereby severing e''ery tie that binds a Mexican to his country. 8&~ Records from Franconia show the temperature at 20 deg. below zero, on the morning of Dec. 26th. The snow is three feet deep on the mountains. Akay-The editor of the New Orleans Pic ayune partook of strawberries and cream on the 29th of December. The’ berrie were grown in the open air. Cut Into. By a typographical error in one of our exchanges, we learn that two cows were cut into calves by the railroad train. fisa)"’ “ My father was one of the farmers of the new constitution,” said a youth of a patrician blood the other day, toanotherof more than plebean origin. “Y\ r ho cares for that!” quoth the latter, my father was one of the framers of the meeting house.” Kter>“A man who avoids matrimony on account of the cares of wedded life, is com pared to one who would amputate a leg to save his toes from corns. Usaf- A sleepy Deacon, who sometimes engages in popular games, hearing the min ister use the words, “shuffle off this mortal coil,” started up rubbed his eyes ami ex ’ claimed—“ Hold on, its my deal!” A gentleman, on placing his hand i too familiarly on a lady’s knee, was told by her that he was rude enough to be a sav age. “Os what tribe, madam I” “The Paw-knees , to be sure.” ffey” Good breeding formerly madeagen tleman. Now brass, a pair of mustaches and a tailor makes one. BiziF “ 1 ain't going to be called a prin ters devil any longer—no more I ain't” ex claimed our imp the other day, in a terrible pucker. “Well what shall we call you ! “Call me a typographical spirit of evil, if you like.” fita?” \\ r e are rejoiced to sec the ladies standing up for their rights by wealing standing up collars. The effect is pretty, re publican, and very ominous of something- The Turks have a proverb which says that the devil tempts all other men, but that idle men tempt the devil. iBS-Sf-The Gypsies preserve their family color in every part of Europe, and le’ s preserve the same complexion, though dis persed for 2000 years all over the world. Hiay- l’ride may sometimes be a useful spring-board to the aspiring soul, but it much more frequently a destructive stum bling-block. fit®” “If you snap at me, 1 won't Hay with you,” as the bullet said to the percus sion cap.