A LADY'S LETTER FROM LONDON.

FoirJiiine Fancies, Foiblos, and Frivoli ties.

London, August 9,

Dear Mr Editor, —It seems rather a facon clc purler to call this a London letter, for wo left town some days ago and are now

staying at Lady F 's charming place in Sussex for the Goodwood and Brighton race weeks. The end of the season dragged terribly. When Easter fulls in March, the term of "society's" round of pleasures ox tends over four months, and this the major ity of people are of opinion is just five •weeks too long. There was a garden party at Marlborough House on 23rd July. At first we felt immensely flattered at receiving cards, but later on Tom saw in the " Court Journal" that over 2,ooopeople had been in invited. It did not turn out a very lively affair. The day was gloomy and overcast, and some of the dresses worn were rather sombre. The Prince took care to say a few pleasant words to everyone. He really must have a wonderful memory. Tom had only met H.R.K. once before at a large dinner party, but he recollected him per fectly, and even recalled the occasion. No wonder such a Prince is popular. The dresses at the Marlborough House party, although dark, were as elegant as the most exacting could wish. Most of those present were in short dresses, and there was every variety in both material and fashion. Velvets were predominant, bub some of the young ladies were in white, with coloured trimmings. The Princess of Wales looked charming in a costume of very fine white Indian muslin, the skirt and draperies being edged with coifoa-coloured lace, and the bodice was trimmed with the same, so as to form a (iehu. She also wove a white bonnet with an aigrette and strings of pale blue. Her daughters, the Princesses Victoria, Louise, and Maud, wore dresses of line, dark crim son cashmere, Jersey bodices and skirts, white straw hats, bound with crimson and trimmed with ecru lace, black stockings and high boots. The Duchess of Connaught wore a bodice and skirt of stone-col oured silk draperies and trimmings of a darker shade ; a simple straw bonnet with small wreath of Dowers. The Grand Duchess of Saxe-Moimngon's dress was of the palest shade of mauve, shot with white, very simply made, and a white bonnet. The Princess Christian of Scheswig ilol stein wore a crimson satin skirt covered with black lane, and v bodice and tunic of rich crimson satin and velvet brocrde, bon net trimmed with cherries. The Grand Duchess of Mecklenburg-Strelitz wore a mauve silk striped with a darker shade and trimmed with white Maltese lace, and a lilac bonnet. The Duchess .if Albany wore a dress of soft white Llama trimmed with gold embroidery, the skirt looped high, with crimson satin bows and ends ; a bonnet with red ribbon and lace. Princess Elizabeth of Hesse wore pale terra-cottn satin and white bonnet; Princess Mary wore black and crimson ; the two daughters of the Princess Christian wore dresses of crushed strawberry coloured fine nun's veiling ; straw hats, trimmed with black velvet and white lace. Princess Mary's daughter was in ecru muslin over pink, and her son wore a sailor's dress. There were some ladies present who seemed to have scarcely taken any trouble to make themselves look smart, and there were remarks made that some of them were de cidedly dowdy. But there were many that wore quite up to the mark. There was a dress of amethyst plush that was very handsome. One or two costumes might almost have walked out of an eighteenth century picture frame. One especially of some largely flowered and soft material was so draped as to render the folds picturesque in a high degree. The straight-brimmed French hat worn with it was wreathed with roses, and might have been worn by a fashionable shepherdess of the Georgian period. The parasol was lined with the same tlowered fabric of which the dress was composed.

I am indebted for the above details to " lima," who, unlike myself, possesses the valuable faculty of being able to describe costume. We drove over from hero to Goodwood each of the four days last week, and enjoyed ourselves immensely. It is emphatically a ladies' meeting, and when the weather is fine nothing can be more delightful. Tom says " fellows who bet " had a good time. I should think this is probably true, for the men of our party were unusually generous in the matter of gloves. I won a dozen pairs of six-button jouvins.

What a terrible thing it is to see women betting in earnest ; I mean, of course, for money. We noticed several at Goodwood, and they didn't appear to care for anything but the babe! of sounds coming from Tatter sail's enclosure.

I see by the papers that terrible woman, the Dowager Duchess of Montrose, has been spending thousands of her 1-iic husband's (Mr Crawfurd'a) money in thoroughbred stock, and means t:i begin racing again under the assumed name of Mr "Manton" next spring. ■ Poor Mr Crawf urd only died in February last, and his widow said then she never meant to meddle with racehorses again. The Duchess is one of the conrsest looking women I ever saw. Hor servants declare she rates them like a Billingsgate fishwife, and by all the jockeys and stable boys about Newmarket she is known as "Tom."

Society is much disturbed at the publiosale of the household furniture and effects of the Duke and Duchess of Teck. People don't hesitatetc say thatthcQueen (whosehoarded wealth now amounts to an almost fabulous sum) should, at any rate, lmvo helped her poor relations to avoid a common auction. There seems something positively indecent in the idea of a spittoon, which has held the saliva of a "Serene Highness," being knocked down to the bid of a Hebrew " tallyman " for " arf a soy." At any rate, the loan of £10,000 would have saved the Tocks much degradation, and even Her Majesty some discomfort. It can't be very pleasant for the Court to read in "Punch " that the Duke of Teck will henceforth be known as the Duke of "Tick,"nor is it likely that many other small jokes with similar tondences prove palatable. I fear, however, the Queen grows grasping in her old age. Amongst other petty economies, the yonnger members of the Royal Family are in futuro to take their own ser vants and food with them whenever they stay at Buckingham Palace. What, I wonder, should wo think of an ordinary middle-class matron who acted thus ?

Another event that gre.atly exercises society is the forthcoming marriage of Lord Garmoyle, eldest son o: Lord Cairns, to Miss Fortescue, the much-photographed actress of the Savoy Theatre. The ladies belonging to theSavoyare all sans rcproche, but Miss Fortescue (whose real name is Finney), has always been except ionally exclusive. In a friendly semi-parental sort of manner Mr Gilbert occasionally ' indulges in a little harmless gallantry towards the feminine members of the Company. Miss Fortescue is by far the prettiest, but I feel confident ho never even kissed her hand, let alone her face. Lord Garmoyle marries a beauti ful, talented, virtuous girl, and many a Jovesick " masher " will envy him his bride.

My husband wont up to London to "settle" over Goodwood on Monday, and stayed to see Augustus Harris's new specta cular drama, "Freedom," at Drury Lane. The piece, like its predecessors, "Youth" and "Pluck," is a farrago of nonsensical impossibilities gorgeously illustrated. Har ris lias taken advantage of the public in terest in everything Egyptian to lay tho scene of tho story in that country. He also appeals to the tastes of pit and gallery by getting up his hero to strikingly resemble the always popular Lord Charles Beresford. Those two things in themselves went some way towards making " Freedom " a success on the first night, but the superb scenery of Emden and Bevorley was the real cause of the play's brightness. Nothing to equal the stago pictures of the Nile, the grand Temple of Rameseß, and the Rock Tomb, have over been seen even at Drury Lane before. Tom assures me the scene painters were called again and again. He describes the plot of the piece thus : — " Thecurtain rises upon a splendid pictureof ft bazaar in an Egyptian city, not a detail being wanting to mar the fidelity of the scene. Among the earliest characters to appear are Araf Boy, who speaks of a mysterious cargo shortly to arrive under one Sadyk, a des perate character, and his wife, Suleima, a beautiful Arab who suspects her lord's con stancy, and not without cause. He is fascinated by an English beauty, Constance Loring, the daughter of a banker. She is betrothed to Captain Gascoigne, otherwise Lord Charles Beresford, otherwise Mr Augustus Harris. The magnificent young fellow makes an imposing entry, followed by a crowd of white slaves, whom he had rescued from Sadyk'p dhow. In stentorian tones he demands tho execution of the slave dealer, and when the British consul con fesses the difficulty of the situation, and Araf gives orders for the prisoner to be re- Icasod, rises to the situation and imperson ates the British lion rampant. In the second act we overhear a plot to cany off Constance, and this is afterwards executedon her wedding day. Thereare vague statements as to disturbance, and there is a fight be tween natives and blue-jackets, but what it is all about we haven't the ghost of a notion. However, it is remarkably well arranged, as also is a previous dance of Egyptian girls ; and, indeed, everything from a stage manager's ]K>int of view. The opening scen>: of the third act is made up of busi ness intended to be comic, in which a ridicu lousold English woman, an eccentric Yankee, and an impossible Dutchman are assailed by natives. Afterwards the plot thickens rapidly. fc'onstanee is discovered in the harem of Araf, who makes improper ad vances to her. She resists, and Gascoigne jumps in at the window. The wily Eastern is not at all impressed by the flowery patriot ism in which the gallant officer indulges now, as at all times, and has him bound. Mrs Araf, however, releases him, and sends him away with his bride. There is a chase, a beautiful scene on tho Nile, in which the stars change colour like fire-works, more tiring, drowning, and excite ment generally. It appears that Constance is rescued from a watery grave by the eccentric Yankee before mentioned, while < iascoigne is again a prisoner. The opening scene of the last act makes this plain, and there is a general departure to rescue. This leads to the final scene, another superb picture of the Nile from the brush of Mr Beverley. After a most picturesque repre sentation of an Egyptian caravan, Augustus Beresford Gascoigne is dragged on in a piteous plight and begs for water, which no one dare give him except a child whose mother he rescued from the slave dhow. This is one of the best dramatic touches in the play. Eventually an English steamer arrives with everybody on board, and Great Britain triumphs all round." I had almost forgotten to tell you that before wo left town an American friend per suaded us into accompanying him to the Avenue Theatre to "interview" AYillie Edwin's Yankee " Sparks." They are just aboutas good as "Salsbury's Troubadours," whom, I daresay, the majority of your read ers saw when they visited New Zealand some years ago. The American pronounced " Binks's Photograph Gallery" a "real fine show," but the emptiness of tho house and the languid melancholy of those present evidenced only too clearly that Britishers couldn't appreciate it. I felt really *orry for some of the performers. They worked with an energy worthy of a better cause. Indeed, one couldn't help wondering how clever artistes came to con sent to act in such buffoonery. Our Ameri can acquaintance raged all the way home at the reception of his countrymen. " Eng lish folks," he declared, " have no sense of humour. A clown in a pantomime or an imbecile face-jerker like Toole, you scream at ; but fun that is at all sensible seems beyond you." Tom rudely re plied that the fun in " Binks's Photo Gal lery " was so sensible nobody in the theatre appeared able to see it. And then an ar gument between the two gentlemen set in, which lasted till we reached home.

Irving's farewell performance at the Lyceum Theatre attracted an overflowing audience, and culminated in an extraordi nary demonstration, the whole house, from royalty downwards, rising to bid him "God-speed." The actor liim.-elf was so affected as to bo well-nigh unable to utter a word, but lie managed to bespeak a, wel come for Mary Anderson, who will open next month as " Parthenia."

Mrs Langtry has returned from New York, and means to play one or two nights in London prior to studying for some weeks in Paris under Regnier. Several ladies and gentlemen are mentioned as likely to accompany her on her Australian tour. Nothing, however, is really settled. lam going to Scotland next month, and intend to take a big box of books from Mudie's with me, as it invariably rains four days out of five in the Highlands, and with the gentlemen out "hooting all day one cannot do better than read a great deal. I snppose you have seen the little shilling edition of Howell's American stories long ago. They—l mean Howell's Tales—don't go down in England, but you may safely expend ninepence on Blanch Willis How ard's " One Summer," or Sherburne Hardy'a " But Yet a Woman." The former made a great hit in the States. I am now about half way through the Countess Yon Bathmer's novel, "Ant Caosar ant Nihil." It is a story with an object, the object being to show that the Nihilists are not so black as painted. Some of our reviewers severely criticise the author's perversion of history, but everyone admits her romancing makes up a most fascinating book. Tom got Percy Fitzgerald's "Kings and Queens of an Hour" directly it came out, feeling sure the work would contain a number of new biographies. Strange to say, the title is the best part of the book, for Mr Fitzgerald has merely ramped up a lot of stale anecdotes about celebrities whoso life stories were better told long ago. Readers fond of diluted history may wade through the two volumes, but they would find Mr Ewald's " Storic3 from the State Papers " (which is not, however, new) far more interesting. I remember recommend ing James Payirs " Kit, a Memory," to you when jit "came out in three volumes. Up country folks will be glad to hear the story can now be purchased for 3s Cd, and so can Christie Murray's " Val Strange," and Leith Derwent's "Our Lady of Tears." The latter is a stupid tale. Don't, whatever you

do, buy George Augustus Sala's "Living London." It is not a new book at all, but simply a collection of the echoes which a popular journalL-t- contributes weekly to the "Illustrated News." Fancy giving twelve shillings for a rechauffe of State newspaper paragraphs. I am rather glad to hear the '' Pictorial World" is not, after all, going to wind-up, though it seems a pity no one save Albert Grant could be found to buy the property. The "Pictoral" has done a g-eat deal of good in stirring up the "Illustrated " and the "Graphic," which were verypoor about IS months ago.

Revised Anecdotes.

DIOUEJJES,

DIOGENES the Athenian having by his cynical remarks induced the citizens to believe that their rulers were no better than they should be, and that he had a corner on virtue and intelligence, met one day at noon the Committee of One Hundred, and upon inquiring of them their- mission, was informed that they were looking for an honest man to run for chief magistrate of the city on a non-partisan ticket. "In that case, fellow citizens," said Dio genes, " you need go no further. lam the man you" arc looking for. Your candidate I will be." And after accepting the nomi nation he added, in confidence., to the friends in whose hands ho had placed him self, that he did not believe in a man hiding his lantern under a tub. Alexander and Bucephalus. Philip of Macedon was the possessor of a horse, Bucephalus by name, which all his grooms had in vain endeavoured, to train so that it would show a three-minute record. His youthful son Alexander, however, undertook the.job, and was not long in sub duing the animal. The news of this exploit having been brought to the King, lie was not slow in sending for his son, to whom ho addressed the following words—" You must seek out for yourself some other kingdom than mine, my son, because people who go into the horse business are rarely good for any thing else." It was upon hearing those words that Alexander wept to think that he would have to conquer other kingdoms instead of coming into one at the old man's death. O.ssAR and the Pilot. C. Julius Ca-sar having occasion, to make a sea voyage, a storm sprang up, and the vessel was placed in imminent peril. At this moment Caspar's freedman, Cn. Pompilius Mucilaginus, whispered to his master, " Would it not be well for you, O Cresar, to encourage the pilot by reminding him that he curies Ciesar and his for tunes ?" "By no means," replied the conqueror. " It would only rattle him ; and besides, if he saved us he would expect a liberal tip." Mohammed and tub Si'ider. The Prophet Mohammed, while fleeing from his enemies, was compelled to take refuge in a cave, across the mouth of which a spider spun her web, so that the pursuers , on coming up were convinced that no one had entered there. Upon rejoining his family in safety, the Prophet did not fail to give an account of his wonderful deliverance, and ever after wards his young wife, Ayesha, it was observed, would rate severely or even chastise the slaves when she noticed that they had neglected to sweep down the cob webs from the roof of the harem, observing that people could not be too careful about such things. Mohammed, in recognition of her affec tion and thoughtfulness, thereupon adopted Ayesha's black petticoat as the standard of the Arabian nation, quelling the murmurs of the haughty chiefs, who were reluctant to follow so feminine an emblem to the field, by the remark that if he, the Prophet of Allah, was so much afraid of that pet ticoat, much more would the infidels be terrified.—" Harper's New Monthly."

A Pleasant Mistake.

Is the mouth of Septembei', 183 a young French officer arrived at Vienna and alighted at the Hotel do l'Archduc Charles. It was yet early, so lie determined lie would have a look at the town before dinner. He sallied forth, and by dinner-time had lost his way. 1 His perplexity was all the greater, as lie spoke no German ; but, by dint of in" quiry and repeating the words, " Hotel Archduke Charles," he at length lighted on a good Samaritan, who took him to the gates of an imposing-looking mansion. The young Frenchman said to himself, ''How odd. I fancied the house was not half so stylish as this." He gave up his great coat and hat to the servants, and was ushered into a dining room, where covers were laid for twenty. He sat down and made himself at home, and helped himself to the caviare and hers cVteuvres —began dinner, in fact, and was lamenting that Vienna tables d'hote were not better attended, when the door opened, and there entered a fine-looking old gentleman, accom panied by a very young lady and about a dozen other guest?. The Frenchman, after the habit of his nation,

rose and bowed when they had taken their seats, and continued his' dinner with the greatest composure. Presently the con versation became general, and the French man mentioned to liis neighbour that he re gretted he was debarred from taking part in it, as he knew nothing but French. The fine old gentleman at the head of the table eTidently heard the remark and understood it, as he continued the conversation in French. The young officer was delighted at this mark of courtesy, and said some thing very civil about the pleasant people to be met with at Vienna tables d'hote. ■ —and, dinner over, went up to the fine old gentleman and said, " I am going to play now, but I shall be staying here a few days. May I hope you are staying some little time in the house, and that we shall see more of each other ':" With that he made his bow and went out. After t!io play a cab took him back to his hotel, and he went to sleep contrasting the difference between the splendour of the dinner and the shab biness of the sleeping apartments. Next morning he had an explanation. He re ceived a. mossage from Count Mensdorff, who told him that his Imperial Highness the Archduke Charles, with whom he had dined the previous day, would be glad to .sec him every day during his stay in Vienna. The mistake was soon cleared up. Instead of dining at the " Archduke Charles " hotel a» he supposed, he had dined at the palace of Archduke Charles !

Two silly brothers, twins, living in Hook's time, took every pains by dressing alike to deceive their friends as to their identity. Tom Hill, remarking to Hook that these modern Dromios were " n.s like as two peas," the latter retorted, "Yes, and quite as green. "

A Ganing Match.

By tlio Right Honourable Benjamin D'laraeli. Uvi.kss tlio loss of an occasional Napoleon at a German watering-place is to be stig matised, gaming had never formed one of the numerous follies of the Duke of St. James. Rich, and gifted with a generous, Banguine, and luxurious disposition, he had never been tempted by the desire of gain, 01-, as some may perhaps maintain, by the desire of excitement to seek assistance or enjoyment in a mode of life which stultifies all our fino fancies, deadens all our noble emotions, and mortifies all our beautiful aspirations, I know I am broaching a doctrine which many may shirt at, and which soino will protest against, when I declare my belief that no person, whatever be his rank or apparent wealth, ever yet gamed except from the prospect of im mediate gain. We hear much of the want of excitement, of ennui, of satiety ; and then the gaming table i.s announced as a sort of substitute for opium, wine, or any other mode of obtaining a more intense vitality at the cost of reason. And our young Duke, I must confess, gamed, as all oilier men have gamed—for money. His satiety hail (led the moment his affairs werocmbaiTasecl. The thought suddenly came into his head while Ba^shot was speaking. Ho deter mined to recover. And so completely was it a matter of business with him that he reasoned that in the present state of affairs a few thousands more would not signify; that these few thousand)) might lead to vast results, and that, if they did, ho would bid adieu to the gaming' table with the same coolness with which lie had saluted it.

T!ie yoxmg Duke had accepted the invita tion of the Baron do Berghein for to-morrow, and accordingly himself, Lords Castlefort, and Dice, and Temple Grace assembled in Brunswick Terrace at the usual hour. After dinner, with the exception of Cogit, who was busy compounding some wonderful liquid for the future refreshment, they sat down to teiirte. Without having said a word upon the subject, there Si emed to be a general understanding among all the parties that to-night was to be a pitched battle, and they began at once briskly. Yet, in spite of their determination, midnight arrived without anything very decisive. Supper was brought in. The Duke had thousands for at present his resources were unimpaired. He went to the side of the table and began cutting himself some roast beef. Tom Cogitran up, not to his Grace, but to the Baron, to «unuunod the shocking fact that the Duke of St. .James was enduring great trouble ; and then the Baron asked his Grace to permit Mr Cogit to servo him. Our hero devoured—l use the word advisedly as fools say in the House of Commons. They set to again, fresh as eagles. At six o'clock they stopped to make up books. Nothing fatalhadhappened yet. The Duke owed Lord Dice £5.000, and Temple Grace owed him as many hundreds. Lord Castlefort also was his debtor to the tune of £750, and the Baron was in his books but slightly. Every half hour they had a new pack of cards. Tom Cogit did nothing but snuff the candles, stir the fire, bring them a new pack, and occasionally make a tumbler for them. At eight o'clock the Duke's situa tion was worsened. His losses were doubled. He pulled up the next kour or two. No one offered to give over. They made their toilets, and went downstairs to breakfast ; the room meanwhile being aired. They met in less than an hour, and were at it again. They played without intermission until dinner time ; the Duke made some terrible efforts, but his losses were nevertheless trebled. Yet ho ate an excellent dinner, and was not at all de pressed. At first his limit was £10,000 ; after breakfast, £'20,000 : then it was said to be £30,000, and now he determined to risk or gain everything. At midnight lie haji lost £45,000. Affairs now began to bo serious. His supper was not so hearty, and he began to limit his ambition to recovery and not to gain. On they played, the Duke lost more. His mind was jaded, he floundered. He acted on each card as if it must win, and the consequences were that his losses were prodigious (for a gamester at such a crisis is really insane). Another morning came, and there they sat: no attempt to breakfast, no toilette, or air ing room. There was not a man in the room, except Tom Cogit, who could have told you the name of the town they were living in. There they sat almost breathless, watching every turn with the fell look in their cannibal eyes. All forms of society had long been forgotten. Ko snuff-box handed over now. No remark upon any other topic, but the all-engrossing one. Lord Castlefort rested with his arms upon the table—a false tooth had got unhinged. His Lordship, who at any other time would have been most annoyed, coolly put it in his pocket. His cheeks had fallen, and he looked twenty years older. Lord Dice had torn off his cravat, and his hair hung down over his callous, bloodless checks, straight as silk. Temple Grace looked us if he Mas blighted by lightning, and his deep-blue eyes gleamed like a hyena. The Baron was least_ changed. Tom Cogit, who smelt that a crisis was at hand, was as quiet as a bribed rat. On they played till six o'clock in the evening.and then they agreed to stop for dinner. While they were resting on their oar.--, the young Duke roughly made up his accounts. He found he was minus about £100,000. As lie looked utkjij his fellow.gamesters, be seemed to gaze upon some of those hideous demons of which we read. He looked in the mirror at himself. A blight seemed to have fallen over his beauty, and his presence seemed accursed. What! was it possible ?—it could not, be- ■ that in time he was to be like those awful, those unearthly, those unhallowed things around him ? He felt as if he had fallen from his state. He felt a criminal. In the darkness of his meditntionsn (lash burst upon his lurid mind. He thought of May Dacre. He thought of everything that was pure and holy, and beautiful, and calm, and luminous. His losses seemed nothing. He advanced to the Baron, and expressed his desire to play no more. There was an immediate stir. All jumped up, and now the deed was done. Cant, in spite of their exaustion, assumed her reign. They begged him to have his revenge—were quite annoyed at the result—had no doubt he would recover if he proceeded. Without noticing their remarks, he seated himself at the table and wrote cheques for their respective amounts, Tom Cogit jumping up and bringing him the inkstand. Lord Castlefort, in the most affectionate manner, pocketed the draft, at the same time recommending the Duke not to be in a hurry, but to send it when he was cool. Lord Dice received his with a bow, Temple Grace with a sigh, the Baron with an avowal of his readiness always to give him his revenge. The Duke, though sick at heart, would not leave the room with any evidence of a broken spirit; and when Lord Castlefort again repeated, "Pay us when we meet again," he said, "I think it very improbable that we shall meet again, my lord. I wished to know what gaming woe. I had heard a great deal about it. It is not so very disgusting ; but lam a young man, and cannot play tricks with my complexion." He reached his house. He gave orders that he was not to be disturbed, and he went to bed. But in vain he tried to sleep. What rack exceeds the tortures of an excited

brain and an exhausted body? His hands and feet are like ice, his brow like lire ; his ears rung with supernatural roaring, and death he would have welcomed. In vain he tried to wile himself to slumber; each minute he started from his pillow with some phrase which reminded him of his late fearful society. It was at length morning. With a feeling that he should •;o mad if he remained in bed, he rose, and paced his chamber. The air refreshed him, lie threw himself on the floor ; the cold crept over his senses, and ho slept.

Kinship to a Lower Type.

The early stages of human development and the first beginners, so to speak, of the individual frame, presont to tho eye of science certain very marvellous proofs- of man's kinship with lower life. Away back ward in the dim ancestral periods, when the lower types were evincing their special tendencies toward th : evolution of tho " paragon of animals," the evidences of that lower life gradually began lo pale and ta disappear, as: first the pre-human and then the human characters were outlined. Tho. projecting face-bones, still seen to-day as a lingering survival in lower races of men, began to be compressed and concentrated, as tho wink of making the '-human face divine with its overhanging brain proceeded apace. The massive teeth and muscles of lower life were gradually modified to form tho more modest structures ourraeo exhibits to-day, and the erect posture, sustained without an effort, likewise began to be assumed as a special feature of the develop ing tribes of humanity. Tins much we can sue by the lawful scientific use of tho imagination in the backward glance alone; the lincsof the past, It would appear toth'e eye of the biologist as though ihe human characters had hecn laid over the features of the lower life that preceded (hem -as if the picture of humanity's progress had been painted over and upon the design which tho. cumulative life of the vertebrate had furnished as a foundation for the best and highest work of all. If such a simile holds good, we might expect, in examining closely the latest oil the canvas, that here and there we should obtain a glimpse of the artist's iirstoutlincs, and of theprclimiuary sketches which served for the realisation of the more perfect ideal. As from tho erasures and blots of the finished manuscript to may gain a clue to the genesis of the writer's thoughts, so we may read between the lines of the warp and woop of life, and may detect occasional glimpses of the fashioning of lower types into that of humanity iteeif. The glimpses wo do obtain are often blurred, and indistinct, and their very nature is frequently obscure. But, there "is no doubt ing the significance of the ancient finger posts which, half-buried in the mists of antiquity or erased by the busy fingers 01 time, still point the pathway along which man's race has fought and won its way to the supremacy of the animal hosts. —" .Long man's Magazine."

The Faithful Nurse.

The following sketch is from a work lately published, palled "Thrilling Adventures Among the Indians,'' by Professor Frost :—

A few years after Boston and its neigh bourhood were settled by the English, a party of Narragansett Indiana who were out hunting stopped at the hou.se of Mr Minot, in Dorchester, and rudely demanded food. On being refused, they went away with evident marks of displeasure, and Oquamelmd, their chief, threatened to be revenged. For this purpose he left in the bushes, near the house, an Indian named OBfimeo, who had long been known in the neighbourhood for his uncommon ferocity. The next morning Mr and Mrs Minot wont to Boston, a distance of only three miles ; the Indian saw them from his hiding place, and prepared himself for an assault upon the house, which ho supposed was left without any defence. However, although Mr Minot had no apprehension of an attack of this kind, he had taken the precaution to Rive strict charge to the maid-servant to confine herself, with his two little children, to the house, and to open the door to no person until his return.

The girl was trusty ami watchful, and she soon espied tlio Indinn drawing cautiously towards the honso. After I;x.k ing about, apparently to make sure that there was nobotly near, ho rushed furiously against the door. but it was s-o securely bolted that it withstood all his force, and he next attempted to get in thrnnph the window. The young woman had hidden her master's childrun under two brass kettles, charging tliem not to stir, ;inr make the least noise ; she then loaded a musket belonging to the house, and bravely stood upon her defence. The Indian, probably guessing her design, fired at her, but mi.=sed liis mark. T!ie r-irl then fired, and the bullet entered his shoulder. Stiil he persisted in his attempt, and had succeeded in Retting half through the window, when, with great presence of mind, s!-:o /fcized a pan full of red hot cinders from the stove, and threw them in his face. They lodged in his blanket, and tho pain they (■•rented was too much even forOsamee.;. He fled, and hia dead body was found next day in a wood on the borders of the town.

The circumstances being made- known to the Government of Massachusetts Bay, this courageous young1 woman w;is, by their, order, presented with a silver bracelet, on which her name was engraved, with this motto, "She slew the Narragansett Hunter."

A Man of "Nice" Honour.

At Naples there was a. very particular man of honour, whose name mis liandol:; lie was the greatest bravo of his time, and it was .said that lie had, with his own hand, despatched upwards of eighty persons by a<sagsinalion, for that warf tho profession by which he gained his bread.

lie made use occasionally of pistol, sword, poinard, and stiletto ; but ho Kcorned to poison anyone he was hired to make away with, alleging that there wa» something unmanly in it; that it was not an action any person of honour would bo guilty of, and that it was as much beneath a bravo to turn poisoner as it would be fur a regular qualiiicd physician to turn quack doctor. Two Neapolitan gentlemen quarrelled one evening at an assembly, and according to the honourable custom of the times, each sent separately for Bandoli, and gave him fifty pistols apiece to make quick work with eacli other.

The last man he despatched as soon as lie had paid him, and he then returned to tho first, who on hearing Bandoli relate how he had slaughtered his adversary, commended the bravo greatly for his dexterity in his business. - "Yes, sir," replied Bandoli, "every one who employs mo shall always lind me punctual, for I am a man of honour. And to convince you that I would forfeit it, I must tell you that tho gentleman whom I have just sent homo by your own order gave me fifty pistols to make an end of you. Now, although ho is dead and cannot call mo to an account for not doing what he employed mo in, yet I am so much a man of honour that 1 scorn to bo guilty of a breach of promise to any gontleman.'' He then thrust his stiletto deep into the other's breast.—" llaro Bits.'"

STAR SATURDAY SUPPLEMENT, SEPTEMBER 22, 1885.

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