scisco. Another of the same name yon might have met, George Seville." " I think I have heard of him," replied George Wray, after a long pause. " Did you hear he was dead '!" " Yes. I heard that years ago." "Well, it is true." Here Peter Monks rose and began button ing up his overcoat. " You told me your niece lived with you ?" he said, standing at the door. "Yes." " She keeps houso for you ?" " There is but little house to keep, sir," with a cough that sounded like a smothered sob. " How long do you expect to have these rooms ?" " I can't say. We rent from Mrs Murphy, but should we leave at any time you can rent directly from her." " Thanks for the information," One foot was in the hall, so that Peter Monks could look out the dingy rear window at the head of the stairs. "Fine Christmas weather we're having," he added. "So I hear," was the response. Peter Monks balanced on one foot, as if ho had something else to ask, but changing his mind, he said "Good day," bowed at the room, and went down the ricketty stairs. Waiting till the sound of his footfall had died out, George Wray buried his face in his hands, for he had just seen the brother whom he tohught dead. "O, Heaven! Save me! Save her!" he cried, in piteous accents. "We must By from here, and at once. From the darkness a hand is outstretched to tear my darling from me ! I will urge her to lly from here to-night, for a danger worse than fioverty, and even death, hangs over her lead and mine I" (To be Continued.)

The Soldier's Son.

It was at a fierce and critical period of the war in the Peninsula, that General Morillo, then commanding '.the fifth Spanish army, about 4,000 strong, passed down the Portu guese frontier to the Lower Guadiana, in tending to fall on Seville as soon as Marshal Soult should advance to the succour of Badajoz. In the beginning of April, while the French were disheartened by the sudden news of the fall of that city, Morillo, issuing out of Portugal, crossed the Lower Guadiana, and marched towards Seville.

Butthehopesentertained by the Spaniards of being speedily in possession of Seville were cut oil'by a piece of deceit. False in formation, adroitly given by a Spaniard in the French interest, led Morillo to believe Soult was close at hand, whereupon he im mediately retired to Gibraleou.

This disappointment and failure in the execution of a favourite project, cherished for many months, irritated beyond control the naturally severe temper of General Morillo. It was evening, and the division of the army under him were encamped some hours' march on

their retreat. Preparations might have been seen for a military execution ; and a couple of French prisoner, eaptm-ed in the last skirmish were, according to the cruel practice of many chiefs in those times, to be putto death. The captives were guarded by a file of soldiers, and the executioners, awaiting the word of command to draw up, were leaning on their weapons, and talking of the events of the last two days. •lust then, one of the inferior officers re turning to his tent, after giving some order to the men, )was interrupted by a boy, apparently ten years of age, who, seizing his hand, and speaking in an accent slightly foreign, besought him, with piteous entreaties, to procure him ad mittance to the General. The officer found, on inquiry, that he was the son of one of the French prisoners, a soldier distinguished for his eminent personal bravery, who had not been taken, even when overwhelmed by numbers, with out giving and receiving many severe wounds.

"You shall see the General, boy, since you wish it," said the officer in reply to the child's passionate entreaties ; "but he will not grant your father's life. San Lucas ! But these French dogs have given us too much trouble already."

They entered the General's tent. The child, as soon as Morillo was pointed out to him, rushed forward, and knelt at his feet.

"What does this mean t" demanded the General.

" Spare him • spare my father I" sobbed the youthful applicant.

The officer explained his relationship to one of the prisoners about to be executed.

"Ah, that reminds me," said the chief, looking at his watch ; " Pedro, nine is the hour. Let them be punctual and have the business soon over."

Again, with moving entreaties, the child sought his father's life. " Did your father send you hither ?" asked the General.

" No, senor, he did not."

" And how dare you, then "

" My father has done nothing to deserve death," answered the lad. "He is a prisoner of war."

'' Ha ! who taught you to question my justice? Answer me."

"No one, senor ; but brave generals do not always kill their prisoners."

"I killwhomlchose !" thunderedJlorillo: " and I hate the French. Boy, your father shall die ; I have said it; begone I" The officer made a silent sign to the peti tioner to intimate there was no hope, and that he must be gone. But the boy's countenance suddenly changed. He walked up to the General, who had turned away, and placed himself directly before him, with a look of calm resolution worthy of a martyr.

" Hear me, senor," said he; "my father is grey-haired ; he is wounded ; his strength is failing even now-, though he stands up to receive the fire of your men. lam young, and strong, and well. Let them shoot me in his place, and let my father go free." It was impossible to doubt the sincerity of this offer, for the face of the devoted child was kindled with a holy enthusiasm. A dark flush rushed to the brow of Morillo, and for a moment he looked on the boy in silence.

"You are willing to die," at length he said, " for your father ? Thon, to suffer pain for him will be nothing. Will you lose one of your ears to save him ?"

" I will," was the firm reply.

" Lend me your sword, Pabla ;" and in an instant, at one blow, tho General struck off the boy's ear. The victim wept, but re sisted not; nor raised his hand to wipe away the blood.

" So far, good ; will you lose your other ear?"

" I will, to save my father 1" answered the boy, convulsively. Morillo's eyes flashed. The heroism of the child compelled his admiration ; but unmoved, from his cruel purpose, ho smote off the other ear with his still-reeking sword.

There was a dead silence.

"And now, senor ?" said the boy, breath ing quickly, and looking up into the General's face.

"And now " answered Morillo, '' depart. The father of such a child is dangerous to Spain ; he must pay the forfeit of his life." Tho maimed child went forth from the presence of this inhuman foe. Presently the report of fire-arms announced that lie had witnessed the execution of his father.

A LONDON DONKEY SHOW.

By James Greenwood, "One of tho Crowd.

It is now seven years since Lord Shaftes bury, with a heart cf compassion for the humblest of God's creatures, took a leading part in the seemingly almost hopeless task of making more endurable the existence of that patientjlittle beast of burden, the ass. The difficulties with which the good intent were besot were formidable. In the first place, the animals in question were for the most part in the possession of a class of persons on whom sentimental appeal would certainly be wasted. The London barrow man of the period was, it should he borne in mind, a very different individual from the barrowman of the present day. His bringing up from earliest childhood was not of a kind calculated to implant in his bosom generous consideration for brute creation. A "chip of the old block," lie had but little experience in the doctrine that "persuasion is better than force.'5 His father ruled his household by fist-law. When his children offended him, they were made to knuckle under literally, and any disagreement between himself and the partner of his joys and sorrows was settled in the same summary man ner. His treatment of the animal on which he so largely depended to assist him in his business was of a similar character, nor can it be said that he was instigated by cruelty or malice. It was the fixed conviction of the costermonger of twenty years ago that the only way to secure domestic harmony, and keep his wife and children in respectful awe of him, was to administer to them an occasional " licking," and his argument was that what was good for a woman could not be bad for a donkey. He was further of opinion that strong doses of his ap proved corrective were better than to ad minister the physic in a diluted form and at lengthy intervals. Consequently, he never accompanied the poor beast tackled to his barrow-shafts without carrying with him a weapon suitable for the purpose, and which commonly took the shape of a stout ash sapling or the brass-bound handle of an old cart-horse whip, and whi.h as" occasion re quired, he applied with an amount of muscular exertion according to his belief in the toughness of ass hide. The preva lent idea was that such was the creature's insensibility to flogging that unless its ribs were kept well developed it was a mere waste of stick to peg away at it; and here came in the food question. The natural re sult of a too generous diet woul d be to over lay the animal's most vulnerable parts with a shield of fat that would make if more defiant than everof chastisement. To obviate such an undesired consummation, there was but one course—to regulate its rations and keep it high in bone, so that its body, between the hips and shoulders, resembled a hooped barrel. Vegetable re fuse, chopped straw, anything that served to keep life in the poor beast, was thought food good enough for it. Indeed, a familiar saying among the costermonger fraternity in expressing a strong opinion as to any act of needless waste or extravagance was that it was "like giving a donkey oats." Ill treated, miserably stabled, half-starved, it was not to be wondered at if the animal's better nature became deteriorated, and if at times, despairing of gaining its master's goodwill and confidence by exemplary be haviour, it sought satisfaction in being wil fully wrong-headed and stubborn.

Such being the condition of affairs when Lord Shaftesbury and his friends took the cause of the ill-used creature in question in hand, it was not surprising that the general opinion was that but a small measure of success would attend his philanthropic design. But his lordship already knew Something of the men with whom he had to deal. He had already shown a kindly in terest in their humble affairs, and done much to encourage amongst them habits of temperance and thrift. For example, many years ago, it being suggested to Earl Shaftesbury by Mr William Ouseman, the founder of the Costermongers' Mission, that it would a good for the men if they could be induced to buy their own barrows, in stead of hiring them, with genial generosity he allowed his name to be used as " presi dent of the Barrow Club," and became himself the owner of a barrow which was dubbed "The Earl," and could always be hired for a few days free of charge by any member in temporary difficulty. In the year 1877, under the auspices of an influential committee, the first donkey show was held at the Agricultural Hall. The affair was announced some months be fore it took place, so as to give those con cerned time to prepare, and liberal prizes were offered to the owners of animals pos sessing certain stipulated features of excel lence, and which could only be arrived at by a method of treatment very different from that to which the London donkey tribe had hitherto been accustomed. There have since that been several donkey and pony shows, and the latest, held yesterday in .\ TilmerGardens, adjoining the Costers' Hall, in Hoxton High-street, furnished satisfactory evidence that the good seed sown six years since was not entrusted to unproductive soil. Hoxton High-street and the surrounding neighbourhood abounds with the class to whom the efforts of the mission specially appeals, and it having been announced that the showyard would be open to the public at half-past five o'clock, at least an hour before that time the narrow street in which the yard is situated was so crowded as to be impass ible, while adjacent windows and the roofs of the houses, notably those of a number of model dwellings on the opposite side of the way, and overlooking the place of exhibi tion, were crowded with spectators. In the showyard itself, which was the best that could be obtained, but much too small for the purpose, the crowd was so great that it was found impossible to admit all who sought admission. A nearly-printed programme, supplied to visitors for the small sum of one halfpenny, furnished the information that the entries numbered nearly a hundred, neaaly seventy pertain; ing to the assinine tribe, the others being ponies and horses engaged in the coster mongering interest. The show, as a whole, reflected, great credit on their owners, who were in personal attendance, in many in stances accompanied by their wives, whose claim to be present was probably founded on the fact that it was due to them that such a large per centage of the patient quapau peds were gaily bedizened with many coloured ribands, many of them being additionally adorned with waeaths of arti fical flowers. But it was in no senße a fancy show for all that. The little animals were all unmistakeably hard workers, with whom holidays were as rare, as with their masters. Well groomed and sleek as they were, their backs were saddle-rubbed, and the bald patches on their shoulders testified to their intimate acquaintance with "collar work" , and tugging on stony roads with heavy loads behind them. A considerable number had

seen much service, and must, if^donkeys are endowed with the faculty of memory, well remember the time when existence was made less pleasant than now.. Among the entries there were" Billy," aged twenty, and "Polly," twenty-eight, " Ada," thirty, and "Old Tommy," who, still hale and hearty, and seemingly good for hard work to the end of the present century, has already reached the patriarchal age of forty years. The very names bestowed on the animalsbytheirowners were indicative of the almost affectionate regard entertained for them and stood as asortof guarantee for their kind treatment. It is hard to understand how the coarsest costermonger could ill-use his " Pretty Jane," or begrudge a feed of corn for his "White Mouse," or his "Beauty," or his "Happy Jack."" They were all happy .lacks for the time being if appearances might be trusted, and it would have been difficult to have found a dejected or melancholy-looking donkey among them. But the show was all the more gratifying because it was not exactly of the same kind as those that had preceded it. No ex hibitor had been drawn there in the hopes of gaining a money prize of high value. Prizes indeed on the present occasion were not offered —merely a modest reward. All fared slike, and it mattered not whether a costermonger exhibited' a pony worth thirty guineas or a don key worth no more than fifty shil lings—if it passed the preliminary examina tion as being eligible for the show,, he re ceived a reward of five shillings, neither more nor less. So that, since to bring an animal there, its owner must have been out of pocketatleastasmuchforlossof time in the majority of cases he must have taken the creature there as much for his own gratifi as that of those who viewed and praised it. It is fair to assume that such was the case, and the best proof of it was found in the fact that the whole proceedings, from the commencement of the show until after Lord Shaftesbury had distributed the prizes in the Mission Hall, were unmarred by a single hitch, the latter part of the evening being spent in singingand social enjoyment, after which the great crowd dispersed good humoured and contented.

Professor Shams on Australia.

Bkinc; interviewed in Melbourne recently, and requested to give his opinion of Austia lia, Prof essorSimms, the well-known physiog nomist, said : —ln no part of the globe—and he had travelled over the greater portion of it—had he met with healthier or better con ducted people than dwell in this lovely island. There might be people who re quired statistics to convince them of the truth of such a statement, but he had no hesitation in asserting it as a fact. Accord ing to the Social Statics of Henry Herbert Spencer (page 19), half the births in Munich were illegitimate; and according to the returns of the Register-General for England, the number of illegitimate births in that country during the year 1874 was 44,755 —a much larger number, relatively to tho popu lation, than in the Australian colonies, where the per.centage is considerably lower than in most countries in the world. Munich is in Bavarian Germany, and Eng land and Germany are regarded as being the most moral countries in Europe. Theft and beggary are much less common in these colonies than in Great Britain or any of the other Eurojjean countries. The most prominent characteristic of the Australian colonists is their enterprise. This could not be better evidenced than by the fact that from almost every populated point on the Australian shores railways were being constructed towards the centre of the continent. . Relatively to the popula tion, Australia has more miles of rail- May than any other country on the globe. Colonial enterprise was also testified to by the fact that so many were engaged in pas toral pursuits in the far interior, were the greatest risks were run by the hardy pioneers. Colonists were thus able to ship large quantities of wool home for the pur pose of clothing their less enterprising brethren in the Old Country. The early colonists were undoubtedly people of most enterprising character ; hence their descendants are bold and adventurous, inheriting the quality from their pro genitors. The admixture of the bloods of various nationalities, as in the colonies, tends to evolve superior beings, who are tall, good-natured, liberal, adventurous, honest, hospitable, and markedly outspoken and independent, as colonials as a race are. As the sunshine of this lovely island makes the parrots chatter, the magpie whistle, and the laughing jackass cachinnate, so it gave loquacious tongues to native-born Australians ; and from that circumstance he argued that the country would in the course of a few generations produce people of great oratorical genius, oratory being but one remove from and above loquacity. The same enlivening sunshine, together with the beautiful scenery to be met with in many parts of Australia, would conduce to the love and cultivation of art, and as the taste expands, as naturally it would, all classes would be found able to appreciate the beautiful and artistic. Ho considers that the compulsoi'y system of education prevail ing here is doing much for strong healthy children, but thinks a clause should be in serted in the Act exemptingdelioate children from a too close attendance at school. In all his travels he had never met with so gentle and agreeable a climate as that of Australia, during all seasons of the year, and he felt compelled to admit that the people aro as pleasant and agreeable as the climate. He considers the latter, perhaps, the healthiest in the world. He believes that any man who comes to Australia, and is willing to work, can, without difficulty, earn a good livelihood, and will have, by economy and care, as good an opportunity—perhaps a better'—of amassing wealth as in any other country in the world. Nature always seems desirous of treating Australia kindly. Earthquakes are unknown, and cyclones and hurricanes, by which so much damage is done to property and even human life sacrificed in other countries, are never ex perienced. Being far removed from the large centres of dense population in other parts of the world, comparative immunity from plagues and pestilences is enjoyed by the inhabitants. Riot, revolution, and war are only known here by hearsay; and murder is much less frequent than in the older countries where the struggle for life is harder. Altogether he thinks the safest, pleasantest, and healthiest part of the globe to reside in is Australia, and he deems the future outlook of tho Australasian colonies to be the very brightest.

Pay the Minister.

A postman left two letters at the resi dence of a Glasgow minister, both of which contained an application for his services to perform the marriage ceremony at the same time. "I hardly know what to do," he remaaked to his wife, " I can't accommodate them both. "Let me see —Mr A. has been married before, has he not ?" "Oh, yes," replied his wife, "he lost his first wife six months ago." " And Mr B. is a bachelor ?" "Yes." " That settles it, then. Ishallmarry Mr B. When a man marries the second time he never pays the minister any more than the law allows, but young bachelors are sometimes very foolish," and tho good ainn rubbed his hands mildly.

The Future of Auckland as Pre dicted in the Present.

We are told that the colony is ridinrr on a great wave of prosperity, and Auckland is Bitting on the crest of the big roller. AYe

are fain to believe it, and conjure up in our minds the prospective glories of the Cor inth of the South. Will they not be some thing like this ? Very soon we will have the Tram,\ay Co. cutting up our streets, and thereafter we will be in possession of that indisponsiblo adjunct to a modern big town — an efficient tramway system. Our freezing establishment,wherein all man ner of delicacies will be made ready for transmission to the epi cureans of Europe, will soon be un fait accompli. In a year's time we may confidently hope to see a continual pro vision of dead sheep constantly moving down Queen-street, or some other street, to the freezing chambers of 5,000 ton ocean liners, panting and hissing at our wharves to be off and feed the famishing millions of the old world. Isn't it delightful! The waters of the Manukau are to'be turned into a miniature Clyde, and the ceaseless din of the forge hammer is to be heard reverber ating amongst the now quiet nnd evergreen clad volcanoes, who will look on in awe and astonish ment at the new-fangled usurpers of their prerogative—the blast furnaces of the Iron and Steel Co. Sugar is 'to be dispensed with a bountiful hand to the four corners of the earth, and treacle and syrup will be had for the licking up, we suppose. The immense steamers of the New Zealand Ship ping Co., the Albion Shipping Co., and the Messageries Maritime Co., and doubtless also the leviathans of the Orient and P. and O. lines, will throng the channels of the Waitemata. Rangitoto will look on in amazement at the great hulks of iron and steel creeping out of the most magnificent harbour in the world under a cloud of smoke and steam, carrying to the uttermost ends of the earth a miscellaneous cargo of kauri gum, sheepskins, and bark, mixed with a few boxes of gold and casks of tallow in jux taposition with barrels of sugar and car cases of frozen mutton.

The magnificent high-level bridge span ning this busy channel of the world's com merce will give free access on the one hand to the gay and populous suburbs of Birken head and Northcote, and on the other to the fashionable "West End of the metropolis of the Southern seas. In time of war it will form a back door for our gallant soldier's to retreat by if the impregnable fortress of Mount Victoria should happen to fall into the enemy's hands by treachery or disaster.

Amidst the forest of masts and the flags of all nations, the well-known pennant of a British commodore will be a familiar sight. In the sheltered waterways of the Hauraki Gulf the ships of the Pacific squadron may safely anchor, in the happy consciousness that if they should happen to scrape the barnacles off their bottoms rather roughly, the sheltering gates of Calliope Dock will open to their call.

On the Pacific, floating palaces will travel with the urgent mails of antipodean lands at a speed of 13 knots per hour, and the capital of the greatest empire of the world will be brought within a month's ; distance of the commercial capital of the greatest colony of modern times. Fiji, the . New Hebrides, and other isles of benighted . darkness will be brought under the bene , ficent sway of the great fern land. To . accommodate the promoters of the Panama Canal and the neighbouring islands of Aus tralia, the Corinth of the South will allow the separated waters of the great ocean to be united in an immense mud channel passing by her busy factories and crowded thoroughfares. To tourists and other persons in quest of health or business, the alternative route to Australasia via the canals of Panama and Auckland must be a great boon. Anything different from the monotony of Mediterranean ports, the sandy desert of Suez, and the furnace heat of the Red Sea, must be welcomed by them as a great relief. The pleasant breezes of the ocean, the sight of a land of constant earthquakes, and the birthplace of the Gulf Stream, to be followed afterwards by the spectacle of the most wonderful volcanic regions in tho world, and the City of Auck land itself—the pride and glory of the Southern .Hemisphere— must surely be held to counterbalance the attractions ofsuchold world places as Gibraltar and Malta. And we can easily imagine future Macaulays coming to our great storehouse of curiosities and historical documents to study in dis tant lands the history of their own door steps. Learned men will walk about our streets, and talk eloquently on New Zealand before the Deluge, and the mysteries of the Pacific. Sallow-faced Indian Nabobs, with diseased livers, from Bombay ; keen-eyed Yankees, worked to death, from the Golden Horn ; sickly-looking magnates from Hong Kong ; and a mixed multitude of "all sorts and conditions of men," languishing for the elixir of life, will pour upon our shores, and by the healing influences of our mud springs be restored to health and happiness again. And the fame of our health-giving virtues will go_ out unto the ends of the earth, and men will come and bless us and spend their money amongst us. Under the serene skies . of this Heaven-blessed land, by the olive groves and tlie fruitful vineyards, they shall think of Paradise and rejoice. "For here shall grow the fig tree, the orange, and the banana; the mulberry shall spread abroad its leaves, and the silkworms shall spin their cocoons ; honey will be plentiful, and the sugar of sorghum will not be lack ing. And the bounty of Nature shall not be on the surface alone, for in the land of the Maori the mines of copper and of gold shall be disclosed ; on the high mountains precious stones shall be found, and in the bowels of the earth coal, and the clay that standeth fire. Verily, the city shall be great; as in qld time men walked from the insignificant harbour of Cenchrea to the luxurious Corinth of the Greeks, so shall they walk from the town of Onehunga to the Auckland of tho Britons. The " city of the two seas," built "nobly on the Pacific shore," shall dominate the Southern Hemis phere ; and as Athens was "the eye of Greece," so shall she be the eye of Aus tralasia. Augur.

Carlyle on the Press.

" He who first shortened the labour of copy ists by device of movable types was disband ing hired armies, and cashiering most kings and senates, and creating a whole now demo cratic world : he had invented the art of Printing." "The journalists aro now the true kings and clergy : henceforth his torians, unless they are fools, must write not of Bourbon dynasties, and Tudors and Hapsburgs; but of Stamped Broad-sheet dynasties, and quite now successive names, according as this or tho other able editor or combination of editors gains the world's ear."— Sartor Resarlus, book i., chapters 5 and 6.

Wo sometimes meet an original gentle man, who, if matters had not existed, would have invented them.—Emerson.

The Training of Musical Prodigies.

There is no art in which the training of children requires more care and thought than that of music. How frequently have musical prodigies been ruined by the unwise flatteries of parents nnd friends, creating thereby a self-satisfied and vain feeling in the child, which hindered any further development; and instead of ad vancing with its age, it remained a stunted and undeveloped plant. We give a short sketch of the early life of Moscheles, in which the truth of this is well illustrated, so far as commencing the ruin of the talent is concerned, but fortunately in his case it was stopped in time by a wise father and excellent, master.

The great musician says :—" Our friends thought they were doing my father and myself a service by taking me occasionally with them to the houses of neighbours and acquaintances, where my performances, miserable as they must have been, caused me to be petted and admired as. an infant prodigy. Naturally, I enjoyed all the com pliments, kisses, and all kinds of en dearments heaped on me by the ladies. My father, however, soon put a stop to this mischief by reprimanding my indis creet friends. He argued rightly that such practices were not calculated to advance me. The more the musical instinct stirred within me, the more gentle and tender was his treatment ; but many a time did I get into trouble when I presumed to slink away from the piano and the odious finger

"Meanwhile I had advanced under my new musical teacher, Horzelsky, to the study of more important pieces, which did not, however, prevent my regularly attend ing school. Although but seven years old, I actually ventured upon Beethoven — Sonata Pathetique. Imagine, if you can, how I played it ; imagine also the Bee thoven fever, to which I fell a viqt'im in those days—a fever which goaded one on to mangle the other great works of the im mortal author.

"My father put a check to this mischief by taking me one day to D. Weber. ' I come,' he said 'to you as our first musician, for sincere truth instead of empty flattery. I want to find out if my boy has such genuine talent that you can make a really good musician of him.' Naturally, I was called on to play, and I was bungler enough to do it with some conceit, lily mother having decked me out in my Sunday best, I played my best piece, Beethoven's Sonata Pathetique. But what was my astonishment on find ing that I was neither interrupted by bravos nor overwhelmed with praise ! and what were my feelings when Dioness Weber finally delivered himself thus : 'Candidly speaking, the boy is entirely in the wrong road, for he makes a hash of great marks which he cannot understand, and to which he is utterly unequal. But he has talent, and I could make something of him if you would hand him over to me for three years, and follow out my plan to the letters. The first year he must play nothing but Mozart, the second Clementi, and the third Bach ; but only that, not a note as yet of Beethoven.' My father agreed to all these terms, and on my way home I received many a golden precept on the subject of my studies."

Moschels became one of our greatest pianistes and composers, as everyone knows, and his case serves to show how often the youthful talent remains unculti vated through undue flattery and ill-timed praise. He was borne at Prague on the 30th May, 1794, and died at Leipzig at the age of 76 on 1 0th March, IS7O, having published no less than 173 works during his long life.

Gifts to Pervert Justice.

Bacon was not the first chancellor of a lofty nature to be accused of perverting justice for the sake of gold. Immediately after his fall charges of corruption were preferred against Sir Thomas More, who was accused by a disappointed suitor named Parnell of being bribed with a silver cup to make a decree in favour of the complainant, adversary in the cause, Master vaughan. The cup, given by Master Vaughan's wife, was a cup of value, and had been placed as a New Year's gift ii. the Chancellor's bauds when the cause was still in litigation. "It is oven so, I took the cup into my own hand," said More, admitting, as it seemed for the moment that he had taken a suitor's present, pendente lite. "Lo!" exclaimed Lord Wiltshire, with exultation, "did I not tell you, my lords, that you will find this matter true _" " But, my lords," continued tho accused man, with one of his characteristic smiles, "hear the other part of my tale. After having drunk to her of wine, with which my butler had filled the cup, and when she had pledged me", I restored it to her, and would listen to no refusal." Had the cause been at an end, the Chancellor woulddoubt less have kept the vessel. When Mrs Croker, Lord Arundel's opponent in a chancery suit, placed in the same Chancel lor's hands (pendente lite) a pair of gloves containing forty angels, Sir Thomas ac cepted the gloves with a gracious smile, but compelled the lady to take back tbe gold— a reproof so charmingly gentle and courteous that none but a true gentleman could have administered it to so considerable an oll'un der.—J. Cordy Jeail'reson, in "Leisure Hour."

How the Irish Mail was Saved.

Thk occurrence on the Holyhead line, of the driver and stoker of a train falling asleep while on duty, and the extraordinary escape of the Irish mail, was even more serious than at first reported. It would appear that the signalman at Lan dudno Junction, by extraordinary pre sence of mind, saved the Irish mail passengers from what might have proved a terrible fate. The signalman at the junction received a message from Con way, the next station towards Holyhead, that a "light" engine was coming. The junction signalman, knowing that tlie Irish mail w«s due, decided to run the engine into a siding, in order to permit the. express to pass. He accordingly put up all the signals against the "light" engine ; but, to his extreme astonishment, it came straight into the junction at full sj)eed, swept round the corner, dashing past all the danger signals, and disappearing from view down the line towards Chester. A moment's reflection convinced the signalman that both driver and stoker must bo asleep, and that without awakening them an awful calamity might occur. He accordingly wired to tho Colwyn Bay Station signalman, "Engine coming, driver asleep ; put fog signals on line." The man at Colwyn Bay was equally prompt, for, running out of his box, ho had hardly time to do as ho had been requested when the engino came thundering along, and an explosion followed which effectually awoke the drowsy men. The engino was stopped and run back into a siding, when it was dis covered that the (ire had gone out, tho water had disappeared from tlie boiler, and the men had been asleop some time. An inquiry has resulted in their immediate discharge. They had beon fifteen hours on duty.

STAR SATURDAY SUPPLEMENT, SEPTEMBER 1, 188 S.

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