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CHESS COLUMN PROBLEM X. (From De la Bourdon n;ii«. page 58.) POSITION'. While. Bluei. Rook f 1 Queen h 3 King g 1 Pawn li 4 Bishop b 2 Pawn b 6 Pawn c 4 Pawn g 6 Knight g 4 Pawn a 7 Pawn b 5 Bishop b 7 Queen e 5 Rook d 7 Pawn g 5 King h 7 Rook f 8 Whites to play and mate in five moves. Solution of above given in our next. SKETCH OF THE HISTORY OF CHESS. From the Book of the first American Chess Congress. (Continued from F. and F., p. 221.) The second great period of chess history begins at about the sixth century after Christ, and ter-, minates with the close of the fifteenth. It may be properly styled the age of the shatranj or mediaeval game. There is reason to believe that long before this era the use of the dice had been discarded, but now the game changed from a contest between four persons to a battle between two. The alteration was simple. The board and powers of the*men remained as before. The bishops and the rooks changed places, and two of the allied forces were united upon one side of the board, and the other two upon the opposite side. Two of the four kings were transformed into viziers or counsellors who stood, as was natural, next the kings. These counsellors moved one square diagonally. These improve ments in the fundamental laws of the game were important, and paved the way for those later alterations which gave its present form to chess. The game about this time, or during the reign of Chosroes, was introduced into Persia, whence it soon afterwards spread, byway of imperial Byzantium, into Europe. Portugal and Spain, however, if we may judge by the etymology of their chess nomenclature, received the game from the Saracens. This shatranj form of chess continued to form one of the favorite amuse ments of monarchs and subjects, of knights and priests, in Asia, Africa, and Europe, for nearly one thousand years. In the Eastern World, numberless writers treated of its excellence m works full of the fan tastic imagery and glowing with the gorgeous verbiage of the Orient. Tho names of Ali Sha tranji, Adali, Suli, Damiri, Sokeiker, Abul-Ab bas, Ibn-Sherf-Moliammed, and a hundred oth ers, have come down to us as those of distin guished players and writers. Even the immor tal Firdausi devotes a long episode, in his Per sian epic, to chess, and the great Rliazes, of the most famous of Arabian physicians, compiled a work upon the game; and numerous treatises have found their way into the libraries of the West, whose authors are entirely unknown. So far did the people of Persia and Arabia carry their love for the sport, that they ascribed to it virtues almost miraculous. It was made to em brace all sciences. It was gravely said to teach religion and law, philosophy and astronomy, political economy and military strategy, and to be an efficacious remedy for diseases both of the mind and the body. “ Chess,” exclaims an en thusiastic Persian, “ Chess is the nourishment of the mind, the solace of the spirit, the polisher of intelligence, the bright sun of understanding. By its practice all tho faults which form the ail ments of the soul are converted into their cor responding virtues.” Great players bestowed their names upon openings of their own inven tion and died with their ambition gratified. Celebrated poets were proud to leave on record, side by side with the memorials of their inspira tion as minstrels, the story of their skill in this mental sport. Courts seem to have boen espe cially favorable to the cultivation of chess. Ha rum Rashid is supposed to have played it; and his son, the Caliph Mutasim Billah, composed the earliest chess problems on record. Tamer lane, not content with the complicated manoeu vres of the forces upon a board of the common size, invented a monstrous kind of chess which required a field of no less than one hundred and twelve squares. Problems, and end-games, many of which are still preserved, attest the ex traordinary skill of the Asiatic masters: and the high point to which they brought tho cul ture of the art is shown by the minute grada tions of rank which were established among players. Several of them delighted in conduct ing games without sight of the board, and rules were laid down by which this rare accomplish ment might be learned. Indeed the first per formance of this difficult feat in Europe was by a Saracenic player, named Buzecca, and took place in Florence in the year 1266. In the West, the annals of chess, during this period, are no less interesting. It seems to have been known in Constantinople at least as early as the eighth century, and was generally diffused throughout Europe before the end of the elev enth. The monk, Jacobus de Cessolis, drew lessons of wisdom from its tactics in that cele brated morality, which was afterwards transla ted, both in prose and verse, into every Euro pean tongue, and which, in the English version of William Caxton, was the first book that is sued from tho English press. Conrad von Am menhusen and Ingold of Germany, Nicholas de Saint Nicholai and Jaques le Grand of France, Innocent and Lydgate of England, Alfonso the Wise of Spain, and a multitude of anonymous writers, whose manuscripts are scattered through the great bibliothecal collections of the Old World, composed moral allegories and practical disquisitions upon chess. Most of the early nov elists exhibit convincing evidence of the wide popularity which it had already attained. From Boccacio, the charming story-teller of Italy, down to tho most turgid compiler of prosaic tales of chivalry and love, what may be caUed the light literature of the middle ages is crowded with allusions to chess. The romancers com mitted a thousand anachronisms, and violated the whole history of the gamo, in order to bring the knightly sport into their pages. Wo owe to them, and to the chroniclers, whoso veracity was sometimes scarcely greater, those pretty fables concerning tho origin of the game, to which I have before alluded, and at which we have so often wondered and laughed. Outside of prose, the minstrels introduced it into their roundelays, and sang its delights in the bowers of maidens and the halls of nobles. Chess scenes and chess incidents are cunningly woven into the verso of Chaucer and his English successors, into the tales of the trouveres of Normandy and the trou badours of Languedoc, and into the lays of the Southern singers. Hebrew bards composed chess poems in tho tongue of Isaiah. Tho lan guage of ancient Rome was employed to set forth the virtues of an art which the ancient Romans never knew. Tho Ymringar, or body guards of the Byzantine emperors, returning to their northern homes, brought the entertaining amuse ment to Scandinavia, and introduced it into the flourishing republic of Iceland, whose berserkers loved its practice, and whose skalds sang its glories in Eddaic stanzas. Charlemagne, Alex- XB£ 80VXKSES FIELD 4ED SXXXBXBX. ius the First, William the Conqueror, Richard of the Lion Heart, and most of the rulers of men in this period, whiled away their leisure hours with the shatranj. A set of chessmen, carved by skillful hands, was thought no unworthy present from one emperor to another. • Kings gave gol den sets to monasteries. Popes, bishops, and holy men, some of whom were afterwards can onized. gave by their acts the sanction of the Church to the practice of the game. The chess library of Prof. George Allen, of the University of Pennsylvania, is said to be une qualled in size and importance in this country, if not. indeed, in Europe. It numbers over six hundred volumes, a large proportion of which are rare and costly works—many of them long since out of print—such as the treatises of Costa, published in 1478; Damiano, 1512; Jacobus de Cessolis, King Lopez, and other eminent wri ters on the game. It is a fact known only to antiquarians that the first English book printed in England was a work on Chess, published by Caxton. in London, in the year 1492. - —— FUN, FACT, AND PHILOSOPHY. (Carefully prepared for the Southern Field and Fireside) •‘What’s a whiskey bringing?” inquired a large dealer in the article. “ Bringing men to the gallows, and women and children to want,” was the reply. Duelling came into general practice in set tling points of honor in 1815. It is prohibited by law in the United States Army and Navy. He who says that there is no such thing as an honest man, yon may be sure is himself a knave. At a representation of Mozart's “Don Giovan ni,” a young coxcomb hummed so loud certain airs of the opera as to annoy all his neighbors. An amateur, who sat beside him, unable to bear it any longer, said aloud, “ What a fool!”—“Do you mean me?” said the troublesome fellow to him. “ No, sir, I complain of Mario, who pre vents my hearing you.” The Choctaw nation numbers about 18,000, They have diminished since they left Alabama. They still hold their lands in common. When some one told Plato that he had been calumniated, “ Never mind,” replied the philos opher, “those who know me won’t believe in it, and those who don’t know me, ’ti3 no matter what they believe.” How should a husband speak to a scolding wife ? My dear, I love you still. According to a late census taken in Georgia, by the State authorities, its population is about 1,050,000. In 1850 it had 905,000. Increase in nine years, about 150,000. Get your enemies to read your works in order to mend them; for your friend is so much like your second self, that he will judge too like yourself. The first Lord Littleton was very absent in company, and when he fell into a river by the oversetting of a boat at Hagly, it was said of him that “he had sunk twice before he recollected that he could swim.” Three thousand inebriates have applied for admission into the New York State Inebriate Asylum. Among the number are thirty clergy men. A Yankee escorting a British officer around to view the objects of attraction in the vicinity of Boston, brought him to Bunker's hill. “ This is the place where Warren fell.” said tli6 YfinkcG “Ahl” said John Bull, “did it hurt him much ?” “Hurtlnm! He was killed, sir.” “Ah? was he?” said John, “that was not surprising considering the distance he fell.’ Sir Walter Raleigh, who was the first discov erer of the value of the potato as a food for man, one day ordered a lot of dry weeds to be collect ed and burnt. Among these was a lot of dry potatoes. After the bonfire, these potatoes were picked up thoroughly roasted. Sir Walter tast ed and pronounced tkpm delicious. By this ac cident was discovered a species of food which has saved millions as the human race from star vation. La Rochefoucald says: “Rare is true love, true friendship is still rarer.” And Chesterfield: “ Real friendship is a slow grower; and never thrives, unless engrafted upon a stock of known and reciprocal merit.” .« Yes,” said a kind mother, of one of our city churches, helping her little sou learn his Sunday school lesson, “ Cain was a fugitive and vaga bond on the earth; he was so bad that he thought every man would slay him. AVliere could wick ed Cain go to?” “Why, mother,” replied thoughtful Johnny, “ Cain could have gone to Baltimore." The first Iron made in the United States from mineral caal was melted in 1837. Now we make nearly 500,000 tons of mineral coal iron per annum. It is to the extension of the use of our anthracite and bituminous coals for iron making that we must look for an increase of its produc tion. There is nothing so elevating to a woman as the love of a truly great and noble man. The wor ship she pays him, whether it be that of friend ship or of love, exalts her mind and fills her soul with a holy joy; there is nothing so crushing to the spirit, as to be the slave of a churl. — [Mrs. Crowe. “Have you dined?” said a lounger to his friend. “ I have upon my honor,” lie replied. “ Then,” rejoined the first, “ if you have dined upon yout honor, I fear that you have made but a scanty meal. The question of allowing Methodist clergymen to remain more than two consecutive years in charge of the same church, is creating consider able stir in that denomination; and the Ohio Con ference has past a vote roquestidg the General Conference to amend the rule to that effect. The study of literature nourishes youth, en tertains old age, adorns prosperity, solaces ad versity ; it is delightful at home, unobstrusive abroad, deserts not bp day or by night, in jour neying nor in retirement. For many years Moses, a negro, was a servant at tho University of Alabama, and waited on the students very faithfully. He was, however, a great hypocrite, and was on that account com monly called “ Preach ” among the boys. One day he was passing a crowd of students, when one of them, out of mischief; called to him and said: “Isay, Preach, what are you going to do when the devil gets you ?” “ lUh? on the student))" was the ready reply. My experience makes me an enemy alike to premature marriage and distant engagements. The first adds to our individual cares the respon sibility for the beloved and helpless pledges of ur affections, and the last are liable to the most uel disappoint mints. —[&V ll'd/v Scott. Quin had a gardener who was very slow. “ Thomas," said lie, “ did you ever see a snail ?” “Certainly.” “Then,” rejoined the wit, “you must have met him, for you could never over take him." PERSONAL. Paul Mokhuy, the distinguished Chess player, passed through Memphis on Tuesday last, on his way to New Orleans. —lt is stated that Madame Jenny Lind Gol d contemplates returning to the practice of her profession as a public singer. — John Neal, the author of “ Charcoal Sketch es,” who for nearly a quarter of a century had laid aside his pen, has returned to it with, it is said, all his old vigor and originality; and a new volume by him, entitled “True Womanhood,” is announced by Tieknor A Fields, of Boston. —Senator Wilson, of Massachusetts, resides there in a very humble but neat house. He was originally a shoemaker himself and is still con cerned in the manufacturing of shoes. His fath er is still alive, and makes his living by going from house to house and sawing wood! —Chief Justice M’Cauley, who died sudden denly at Toronto, Canada, last week wasat one time an officer of the British army, and served his country with honor during the war of 1812, between Great Britain and this country. He was present at the battle of Sackett's Harbor, and at the subsequent sanguinary conflicts on the Niagara frontier. — Asa A. Gore, Esq., of Preston, Conn., died in that town on the Ist inst., at tho age of eight ty-one years and five months. He was the last survivor of the Wyoming massacre, having been carried away, when a child, in his mother's arms. His father and all his relations but his mother were killed. — Lord Brougham’s mind and body, says an exchange, seem to bid equal defiance to the tor pid advances of great age. He is verging on eighty, and yet his physical and mental vigor show no symptoms of decay. The last three or four years have brought about quite a change in his autumnal amusements. Formerly he left England, soon after Parliament broke up, for France. When we first heard of his appearing at the Institute at Paris, under the aegis of Ara go, and then hobnobbing with the occupant of the Tuileries, whether Louis Philippe or Louis Napoleon; and, finally, he was announced as departing for a country seat he had at Cannes, in the south of France. He was there when poor Rachel died, and it is known he was very attentive and kind to her in her fatal illness.— Since then he seems to have renounced France and the French, and to have dedicated his learn ed leisure to the edification of provincial audi ences, which yield him a splendid return of journalistic renown. —Born at Watertown, Massachusetts, in the year 1821, Harriet Hosmf.r is the only surviv ing daughter of a physician, who, having lost wife and child by consumption, and fearing a like fate for the survivor, gave her horse, dog, gun’and boat, and insisted on an out-door life as fudispensable to health A fearless horsewoman, a good shot, an adept in rowing, swimming, div ing and skating, Harriet Hosmer is a signal in stance of what judicious physical training will effect in conquering even hereditary taint of con stitution. Willingly as the active, energetic child acquiesced in her father's wishes, she con trived, at the same time to gratify and develop her own peculiar tastes: and many a time and oft. when the worthy doctor may have flattered himself that his darling was in active exercise, she might have been found in a certain clay pit, not very far fromfthe paternal residence, making early attempts at modeling horses, dogs, sheep, men and women, or anything that attracted her attention. Both here and subsequently at Le nox, she made good use of her time by studying natural history, and of her gun by securing spe cimens for herself of the wild creatures of the woods, feathered aud furred; dissecting some, and with her own hands preparing and stuffing others. The walls of the room devoted to her special use in “ the old house at home,” are cov ered with birds, bats, butterflies and beetles, snakes and toads, while sundry bottles of spir its contain subjects carefully dissected and pre pared by herself. — Rosalie Boniieur, as she is called in her acte denaissance, was born in Bordeaux on the sixteenth of March, 1822. Her father, Oscar Raymond Bonheur, was a painter of merit, who had in youth taken the highest honors at the ex hibitions of his native town. He devoted part of his time to giving drawing lessons in fami lies for the support of his aged parents. An at tachment sprung up between him and one of his pupils—Sophie Marques, a lovely and accom plished girl. Her family opposed their union on account of the artist’s poverty; and after tho marriage the young people were thrown entirely on their own resources. Rosalio was the eldest of their four children. Her father was com pelled to give up his dreams of fame and the higher labors of his art, and for eight years maintained his family by teaching drawing.— In person she is small, and rather under the middle height, with a finely-formed head, and broad, rather than high, forehead; small, well defined regular features, and good teeth; hazel eyes, very clear and bright; dark-brown hair, slightly wavy, parted on one side and cut short in the neck; a compact, shapely figure, hands small and delicate, and extremely pretty little feet. She dresses very plainly, the only colors worn by her being black, brown and gray. — FOREIGN CORRESPONDENCE. Milan, Oct., 24, 1859. Mr. Editor: —The highest boast of these Care Mori is, that they are “men of Gari baldi.” And here let me add, that for the first time in my life, 1 have found a man who is almost worshipped by a whole people, high and low, rich and poor, (most of the priests included,) to their honor be it said. There are no half way terms. “He is our idol, sir,” is the universal remark, and every word that falls from his lips is published and repeated throughout Italy. The modesty, simplicity, and self-abnegation of this admirable soldier, are only excelled by his knowledge of men, and his way of handling them. It seems to me that his excursion in the Yaltelline, and his marches, ending in the battle of San Fermo, must, in all future time, be quoted among the most consummate examples of parti zan warfare. It was this expedition that result ed in the occupation of the Stelvio pass, by which one of the Austrian lines of operation was penna ! nently cut in half. The principal engagement j here was that of “ Sponda Lunga,” where the Austrians were in position, on the Italian side. This point was attacked and carried by 7,000 or 8,000 men in front and on either flank, at the same moment You would wonder how men could scramble down the steeps to get within striking distance of the Austrian flanks. At San Fermo, on Lake Como, which position I have also seen, Garibaldi, with between 3,000 and 4,000 men, beat General Urban, at the head of 14,000 men. In this position, this heroic captain was in rear of the centre of an Austrian army of 250,000 men, and threatening their chief line of operations along the Adige, by Trent and Roveredo. The Italians, too. must share with him in the credit of these exploits. Steeped in that apathy and indifference that fol low ages of oppression, with nothing but the memories of the great past to keep up the senti ; ment of nationality, they sprang to arms at the first trumpet call, and vindicated their claim to : be a free people. Colonel Medeci, a direct de : scendant of the great Florentine family, com manded the Italians at “ Sponda Lunga.” His I brother was killed in this engagement, several yards in advance of a column of attack, which |. he was leading. Taking leave of our hospitable friends with expressions of sincere regard, we set out for Bormio, far down the mountain, nearly at the head of the famed valley known as the Yal tellina. A lady of our party carried away a souvenir of our visit—a present from the Lieu teuant, Feraresi. It was a cane, made from the top of a young Alpine pine, from which portions of the bark had been ingeniously cut away, so as to make quite ornamental Arabesque decora tion, with the inscription: “Memoeia dello Stel vio,” dato, &c., Ac. A lady’s pocket handker chief was the only thing available to return to the gallant Lieutenant, who pressed it to his heart with true Italian fervor. Descending rap idly with a young soldier, detailed to carry our slight luggage, we soon passed the position of Sponda Lunga, threading many a wild and ro mantic defile. It was pleasant to observe how much more abundantly, under tbe influence of a softer air, Nature had draped the rooks with lichens and various shrubs, than on tho northern side. The road, too, was better kept up, and the galleries anil bridges, blown into the air by the retiring Austrians, were beiDg rapidly re placed. Arriving at Bormio at about night-fall, wo found pleasant lodgings at tho inn della Posta. In spite of the dirty floors common to Italian country inns, you feel at once that you have stepped into a higher civilization than you have left behind. The very engravings on tho walls are from classical subjects, the wash-stands are tripods, and the beds richly draped with cur tains falling from the mouth of a gilded eagle or metallic rod. In the roasted chestnuts and Par mesan cheese served to you with tho dessert, you are reminded that the same food is offered to his friend by one of the interlocutors in one of Yirgil’s Eclogues. Garibaldi—personally— went no further up this valley than Bormio. I had the happiness of sleeping on the bed which he had occupied. It was quite seven feet long by six feet wide, and it was delightful, after being punished in the Procrustean beds of Ger many, to roll over and over, and endeavor in vain, by stretching out, to touch the head and footboard at the same moment. We took places here in the diligence for Son drio. The jolly daughter of the landlady of the inn, seeing I wag without a cane, presented me with one, made by the Cacciatori soldiers — similar to that above described. Our road lay in a rich valley, bordered by lofty mountains, producing maize, millet, honey, grapes, mulber ries, Ac., and on the slopes noble chestnut trees, which are very valuable. The wine crop in this valley is a complete failure this year, owing to the recurrence of the grape disease. The churches hereabouts are numerous to an incred ible degree. One of the finest, if not the most so, is known as the “Sanctuary of the Madonna of Firano.” It is not in, but near the town of that name. As our “slow coach” stopped there more than three hours, we walked on, after ta kiug a quiet dinner, with some “ vino spumante d’Asti" —(foaming Asti wine.) We soon came up to this church, and as I found no one capable of answering my questions, I went to the priest's house for information about it. The whole fabric is immensely elegant and rich. I will recite a piece of history for those persons who pretend that the age of miracles ceasod with the first centuries of our era. I translate from a pam phlet handed to me by tho good priest, whose faith seemed to be so sincere that I had not the heart to intimate any doubts. The work is en titled: “An Historical Narration of the Appear ance of the Most Holy V? rgin in Firano, and of the Sanctuary erected there, <tc., by G. B. Crotti. Milan — Francesco Vallardi, 1858” 1 The author quotas the words of the parish curate, Cabassi, who wrote, in the year 1590—an authority which to him appears to have been ample. “In the year 1504, when Valtellina was gov erned by the most serene (?) Dukes of Milan,on St. Michael’s day, 29th September, happened the circumstance which caused this temple to be erected to the worship of Divine Majesty, to the honor of the Most Holy Virgin, and of the An gelic Choir. In this place, where is now the church of the Madonna of Firano, was the ap parition as follows: “On that same day, Ac., Ac., a certain man of holy life and religious habits, Mario by name, of the noble family of the Ilomodei, arose and de parted from his paternal house, which stood not more than a stone’s throw from the spot where the church Ac. Ac. now is, before the sun had scattered his friendly rays upon the earth, and even before the dawn appeared on the top ‘of the rocky mountains, in order to visit one of his vineyards. Hardly had he left his house, when the tops of tho mountains were illuminated by an unaccustomed light. While he thought by himself—not without some sea this came, he felt himself raised to a prodigious height from the earth, and transported to a little garden, that lay in a deserted and uncultivated spot. And when he was set down upon the ground, a little Yirgin presented herself before his eyes, who appeared to bo about 14 years old, dressed in purest white, from whom he saw that the light that caused the overhanging ! ing mountains to shino so, came. This “ Virgi ! nella," who was accompanied by a celestial mul ! titude, called the good Mario by name, like that : angel who appeared to the ancient patriarch ; Abraham, saying to him, Abraham 1 Abraham 1 | The good Mario answered to the first call | 1 Well!' 1 Well shall it be to you,' he was an swered. 1 Go,’ added the little Virgin ‘to Firano, and tell that people that on this spot must be built a temple for the worship and religion of the true and eternal God, dedicated to Him in honor of my holy name.’ To which he, having knelt down on the earth, answered: ‘Oh 1 Most Glorious Virgin 1 how will they ever believe that it is you who sends me?’ “Itis no wonder that the good Mario said such words, since such were the words of tho j just Zaccaria, to whom appeared the angel I Gabriel, when he said to him, ‘ and how shall I lielieve this?’ To whom the Virgin said: * Tell them that if they refuse to obey my order, the plague that is now among their herds, shall be turned upon their own persons; (there wss, in those days, a very great mortality among the leasts in Firano,) and as a proof of what I have just told you, your brother Benedetto, whom you left so ill that his life was despaired of, you will find cured, and free from every infirmity which, when she had said she disappeared, leav ing so great fragrance of her odors as any mor tal ever smelt” I have purposely adhered rather closely to the quaint simplicity of the author, who goes on to say that these facts are clearly testified by a painting, made nine years after the apparition, which may be now seen on the internal wall, left hand, of the privileged altar. At first, a provisory altar was erected on this spot, and then, after the performance of certain miracles, the funds flowed in, and the present sanctuary arose. Begun in March, 1 505, it was consecrated in May, 1528—having been 24 years in build ing. I now turn back to that chapter which treats of the most remarkable miracles. Do not be startled. It has the caption: “ Resurrections that took place through the Ma donna of Firano." “On the 26th of March 1505, happened, among other miraculous signs, one truly worthy of admiratiou, and of being held in eternal memory, since, among all supernatural works, that of raising the dead does not hold the last place. There was brought there on the above said day, a son of Christen Peterfeit, a German, of the diocese of Brixen. This child was bom dead four days before, (morto da quat trogiorni nelP uscir (lal ventre materno) and be fore he was regenerated to Christ by holy baptism. For which reason his father, hearing of some of the miracles which the goodness of God wrought in that place, did not hesitate to have his child brought there, holding the firm hope, like that Sunamite who came near the prophet Eliseothat his son would return to life, either to live many days, or at least until, with the water of bap tism and the grace of the Holy Spirit, he was made worthy to enter into the possession of eternal life. Which, when he had done and placed him upon the altar already erected pro visorily, ho shedding tears and sighs hot with a perfect devotion, profound humility, and fervent hope, and with the constant prayer of all the bystanders, and great faith of seeing a public miracle, the dead child did not remain there more than one night, when the perfect faith of the father, the devotion of the bystanders, and the intercession of the most blessed Virgin had the desired effect. Since on the following morn ing, about the dawn ot day, the flesh began to grow warm through the returning spirit, so that distinct signs of the resurrection of this already dead child were visible, by the opening of its eyes, by its weeping, breathing, as well as by the motion perceptible in all parts of its body. It was then baptized by the Reverend Priest, Modesto di Clavena, in presence of many other priosts and laity. And that done, it gave up Its soul to the Creator on that same day, not with out the greatest joy and admiration of all pres ent, and particularly of the father, who, sur rounded on one side by natural grief for the death of his son, and on the other by the great est joy for the grace received, did not know whether he ought to break forth in tears of grief, or of joy and praises." The second miracle of liko nature which was performed by the intercession of the Virgin, was on the child of one Giovanni Rodio, who lived eight miles from -irmsbruck. This event occurred on the same morning while the priests were saying the offices for the first child—now dead. This second had been dead eight days, and buried four days, and being placed on the altar, began to open its eyes, move, cry, &c., when they came to the words, “ remrrexit sicut dixit." It receiv ed baptism, and lived that day and night, and the succeeding day and night. On the 11th July of the same year, the child of Christen Mil itold, of Innsbruck, was restored to life, received baptism and died. Three other cases follow of children restored to life long enough to receive baptism. On the 20th April, 1511, a son of the same Mario to whom the Virgin had appeared, was restored to life, having been drowned at the age of three years. This person lived to the age of 67 years, and liccame a priest well known in Firano. I have imitated the example of the author in giving these striking miracles, as all minor ones follow almost as a matter of course. After remark ing how in that day infinite care was taken to distinguish true miracles from “shadows, fantasms and illusions,” —and after quoting the ordinance of the Council of Trent—“ nulla admittenda esse nova mirwula, nisi eddem recognosce ate et appro hanle Kpiscopo" —which ordinance, he says, was more carefully observed in the time of Cabassi than iij Inter times, the author goes on to forti fy yet further the belief of his readers, by re ferring to monumental and other inscriptions and records of that century —all going to prove the truth of what is above related. Yours, respectfully, J. L. L. —■***■ HARPER'S FERRY INSURRECTION. WASnutOTON, Dec. 15.—This morning, in the Senate, the following names were announced as members of the Committee of Inquiry, under Senator Mason’s resolution, relative to the Har per’s Ferry Insurrection: Messrs. Mason, of Va.; Davis, of Miss.; Collamer, ofVt.; Fitch, of Ind.; and Doolittle, of Wisconsin. Mr. Mason’s reso lution was passed in the Senate yesterday after noon unanimously. It is as follows : Resolved, That a committee-be appointed to inquire into the facts attending the late invasion and seizure of the armory and arsenal of the United States at Harper’s Ferry, in Virginia, by a band of armed men, and report whether the same was attended by armed resistance to the authorities and public force of the United States, and by the murder of any of the citizens of Vir ginia, or of any troops sent there to protect the public property: whether such invasion and seizure was made under color of any organiza tion intended to subvert the government of any of the States of the Union; what was the char acter and extent of such organization, and wheth er any citizens of the United States not present were implicated therein, or accessory thereto, by contributions of money, arms, munitions or oth erwise ; wliat was the character and extent of the military equipment in the hands or under the control of said armed band, and inhere, and how’, and when the same was obtained and trans ported to the place so invaded; that said com mittee report whether any or what legislation may, in their opinion, bo necessary on the part of the United States for the future preservation of the peace of the country, or for the safety of the public property: and that said committee have power to send for persons and papers. —The Legislature of Virginia on Wednesday adopted a joint resolution to the effect that it was not necessary or proper that the legislature should interfere in the case of tho murderers Cook, Coppie and others, now under sentence at Charlestown, on account of the late insurrection. 237