The

dipped their fingers, and a small spot was marked on the foreheads and noses of the children. next process was that of the fleecing and roasting of the slaughtered animals-the first in a trough, the second in a hole prepared for the purpose. The Prince and most of his suite returned to the tents, one or two remaining through the night on the mountain-top to witness the "feast," which was not to commence till early morning. Girded and shod, with staves in their hands, the Samaritans awaited the appointed moment, and then in rapid silence and with eager hands, as of men in hunger, the blackened masses of the sacrifice were torn away piecemeal and consumed, until in ten minutes all was gone but a few remnants. Descending from the hills of Samaria to the plain of Esdraeldon and Megiddo, the royal party encamped, on the 15th of April, at the foot of Mount Carmel, crossing the plains to Acre on the following day. Proceeding thence over the hills of Galilee, they reached Nazareth by Good Friday, and at sunset on Eastereve the first view of the Sea of Galilee broke upon the party. The tents were pitched by the old walls of Tiberias on the very edge of the lake; and here on Easter Day, Doctor Stanley, after the usual service, administered the Holy Communion to all the party. On Monday, April 21, they explored the shores of the lake northwards, and then mounted to Safed, where they passed the night. The following day, Kadesh Naphthali was reached; whence a descent was made into the valley of the Lake of Merom, and so on to the hill of Dan, at the first source of the Jordan. The rest of the week was spent in crossing the plain to the

celebrated Belfort, and in exploring the banks of the wild and mysterious river, the Litâny. On the following Monday the royal party approached Damascus. Their descent to the city was accompanied by the crowd and tumult which always greeted the Prince's arrival; but within the city unusual signs of aversion were manifested at the appearance of a Christian Prince. The fierce passions which had been aroused in the recent massacre of the Maronites still smouldered among the populace of Damascus; and along the streets and bazaars many a Mussulman remained sullen and immoveable on his seat, instead of rising to salute the Christian cavalcade as it approached. The Prince received here a visit from Abd-elKader, whose heroic resistance in the summer of 1860 to the fanaticism of his co-religionists was warmly complimented by His Royal Highness.

Crusader" fortress of

From Damascus the royal party turned westward, and by the route of Ain Fijeh, Abila, and Baalbec, reached Beirût on the 6th of May.

From Beirût the Prince visited Tyre and Sidon, on the south, and the entrance of the Lycus, or Dog River, on the north; and, on the 10th of May, the royal party landed at Tripoli, in order to visit the Cedars of Lebanon. They rode up into the hills to the village of Ehden, where they encamped till Monday, May 12. From this village the ascent to the Cedars is usually made. The Cedar grove is literally on the very edge of the height of Lebanon. It stands as if on an island eminence, broken into seven knolls, of which six are arranged round the seventh, on a square

mount, in the midst of which stands a rude Maronite chapel. The outskirts of the eminence are clothed with the younger trees, whose light feathery branches veil the more venerable patriarchs in the interior of the grove. This younger growth, which has entirely sprung up within the last two centuries, amounts now to more than three hundred. The older trees, which are so different in appearance from the others as to seem to belong to a different race, are now about twelve in number. Their massive trunks, clothed with a scaly texture, and contorted with all the multiform irregularities of age, may well have suggested those ideas of regal, almost divine, strength and solidity which the Sacred Writers ascribe to them. In ancient days, the grove must have been much more extensive, and the great trees probably then overspread the whole. Now, they are huddled together on two or three of the central knolls, and the peculiar grace of the cedar as seen in Europe, with its long sweeping branches feathering down to the ground, is there unknown. The Grove of Cedars in this locality can never have been very extensive, but there were probably other forests in different parts of the Libanus range. The cedars of Lebanon seem to have attained an early reputation for their excellence for forming statues, and the more ornamented parts of temples and palaces. Large quantities were felled for these purposes, and transported to Tyre and Sidon; and they were in demand for the palaces of the Jewish princes before the building of Solomon's temple.

The great devastation of this sacred grove is, however, due to

Sennacherib, who, on his conquest of the whole sea-coast of the Mediterranean, penetrated into the Libanus, and cut down the forests. The superstition of the Eastern nations caused a continuous felling of such trees as had attained a large growth, and the natural succession of young wood was prevented by the browsing of goats, and the gnawing of wild animals as the young shoots sprung up; and thus this celebrated grove has shrunk to its present limited dimensions. For the last two centuries, however, the Cedars have become invested by the veneration of pilgrims, and the associations that attach to them, with a sanctity almost approaching to that with which they were formerly revered as special miracles of divine power by the Psalmist of Israel. They are regarded with great veneration by the Maronites, in whose country they are, and who have erected a rude wooden chapel within the grove.

This was the last expedition of the royal party in Syria. It had been the Prince's wish that divine service should be held under the shade of the Cedars, but the royal party had hardly reached the grove when a heavy storm drove them back to their encampment at Ehden.

On the 13th of May the Prince left the shores of Syria, visiting only one more spot in departingthe Island of Ruad, the ancient Arvad, to see the remains of the oldest of all the monuments of Syria. On May 15th the royal yacht reached Rhodes, where the Prince landed and explored the excavation of one of the tombs at Camirus. The following day was spent among the islands, two of which His Royal Highness visited. One

was the extinct volcano of Santorin, the other was the celebrated grotto in the Island of Antiparos. On May 17, the royal party landed at Patmos, and visited the grotto of St. John, and proceeded, on the evening of the same day, to the ruins of Ephesus. The homeward route was taken through the well-known scenes of Smyrna, Constantinople, Athens, Cephalonia, and Malta; and the Prince's Eastern tour finally terminated in the harbour of Marseilles. A rapid journey brought the Prince to Paris, whence a brief visit was paid to the Emperor at Fontainebleau. On the evening of the 14th of June His Royal Highness reached Windsor Castle; and the travellers, who had lived together in unbroken intercourse for more than four eventful months, parted to their several homes. From one, it was parting for life. General Bruce, on the 27th of June, within a fortnight of his return, sank under the effects of a fever contracted during the journey.

18. Ascor RACES. Although the weather was not very favourable, the influence of the International Exhibition was felt in the large and fashionable attendances at this favourite meeting. On the Cup day, in particular, the assemblage upon and around the Grand Stand was as brilliant as in the days when Royalty itself was expected as part of the pageant.

Of the principal races, the Gold Vase was won by Mr. Jackson's Tim Whiffler; the Prince of Wales' Stakes, by Mr. E. Hall's Carisbrook; the Ascot Stakes, by Mr. Osborne's Rapparee; the Royal Hunt Cup, by John Day's Canary; the Gold Cup, by Sir J. Hawley's VOL. CIV.

Asteroid; the Queen's Plate, by Mr. Parr's Dusk.

There were some noteworthy pranks of fortune on this occasion. Carisbrook won three races in two days-the Ascot Derby, the Prince of Wales', and the Fourth Ascot Biennial. Tim Whiffler twothe Gold Vase and the Royal Stand Plate. Blue Mantle twothe Tenth Ascot Triennial and the New Stakes. Asteroid, who had won "the blue ribbon" of Ascot, on Thursday, ran third to Tim Whiffler for the Vase, on Friday.

The Prince of Wales' Stakes are a new institution, run for the first time on this occasion. It is for three-year-olds; subscription 20 sovs. each, h. ft., with extras and allowances. It seems likely to be a favourite race, for there were 106 subscribers on this first occasion.

18. SUPERSTITION IN THE NINETEENTH CENTURY.-A very singular case has been tried at the Central Criminal Court, not very illustrative of the march of intellect in these enlightened days. A young man, named Charles Tallbrook, was indicted for having assaulted and wounded his own grandmother, a feeble old woman, named Mary King. He attacked her in her room, as she was dressing herself, cut her about the forehead with a razor, and beat her head with a stick. Such an assault upon so aged and feeble a person had nearly proved fatal; but the victim recovered from the wounds, and her grandson was indicted for feloniously wounding with intent to murder. The defence set up by the prisoner was most extraordinary. He justified his crime by alleging that his grandmother had bewitched him! She had, he

I

said, acquired power over him by her devilish arts, and had done him great harm! This, of course, its absurdity aside, would be no excuse for his attempt to murder her; but the prisoner denied that he had attempted and desired to do anything of the kind. What he wished and attempted to do was merely "to draw her blood." If he could "see her blood," it would, he believed, destroy her power over him, and he assaulted her with that intent only. This defence, of course, excited only astonishment and derision. The first impression would naturally be, that a person who should set up such an excuse was either insane or a knave; but it was apparent from the prisoner's manner that his defence was made bond fide, and that he was conscientiously convinced of the truth of his proposition. It was the excuse he made when first apprehended, and he persisted in it from first to last as he stood in the dock, asserting that "it was the fact of the matter," and offering to forfeit his life if the old woman did not "work at witchcraft;" and he represented to the court that, two hundred years ago, such a woman as his grandmother "would have been put to death without ceremony.' It is strange that the old foolish superstition should not only have survived to these days, but that even the forms and countercharms should have come down to us unchanged. It was a necessary part of the old traditional method of proceeding, in disarming a witch, not only to draw her blood," but to draw it "above her breath," and therefore it was that the prisoner had inflicted these cuts on the old woman's forehead. Both the judge, Baron Bramwell,

and the jury, seemed to believe in the man's conscientious superstition, and that his offence had no origin in insanity. He was found. Guilty of wounding with intent to murder, and sentenced to penal servitude for life.

21. EXPLOSION OF A PERCUSSION-CAP FACTORY AT BIRMINGHAM. -NINE PERSONS KILLED.-In the year 1859 there occurred at Birmingham two explosions of percussion-cap manufactories, by which three and 21 persons were killed. A similar disaster occurred on the 21st June at the same place, when nine persons lost their lives. This calamitous occurrence was on the premises of Messrs. T. and R. Walker, in Graham-street, Newhall-hill. There were a great number of girls on the premises at the time of the explosion, it being just about the hour when wages are paid. Suddenly a great shock was felt on the premises; at the same instant the pile of buildings was shattered to fragments, and a vast heap of smoking and burning material occupied the space. The windows of the houses on the opposite side of the street were shattered over a space of 50 yards; and the noise attendant upon the explosion was heard upwards of a mile off.

Assistance was at hand immediately, and, before it was safe to disturb or get into contact with the combustible materials in ignition, every possible endeavour was made to rescue the sufferers. By the daring exertions of the assistants a great number of persons were drawn from the ruins. Nine of them-three men and six women and girls-were found to be dead, or died soon after they were admitted to the hospital. Fourteen persons were so much injured that they were admitted

into the hospital and infirmary, and about the same number were attended at their own homes. Among the persons who were killed were two sons of the proprietor. Since, in catastrophes of this nature, the occurrence is instantaneous-all security one moment and destruction the next nothing could be ascertained as to the cause of the explosion; but it is supposed to have originated in the upper floor, where the detonating material is prepared before filling the caps.

23. THE HANDEL FESTIVAL.Whilst other arts and sciences have continued to advance, and by their progress to contribute to the civilization and consequently to the well-being and to the happiness of the people, the art of music has by no means been left behind in the race, as witness the realization of the Handel Triennial Festival, held at the Crystal Palace at Sydenham, with brilliant success, during the last week of the month of June. That acoustical science has not yet effected all that is required of it must be admitted-when it is found that something is still wanting to render musical effects less dependent upon the position of the auditor, and less variable, when heard from different parts of so vast an area as was that occupied by an audience such as thronged to the Crystal Palace on the present occasion. It is due to the existing state of the art, however, to record, that at this Festival the 4000 vocal and instrumental performers, assembled in the Handel Orchestra, presented themselves as its true votaries, by submitting to a discipline essential from the very outset to prevent such a mass of sound from degenerating into the

most chaotic confusion. Day after day, at the rehearsal, and at the three successive performances, as if by magic, these singers and players seemed to get in and out of their places. Upwards of 120 towns, and among them 32 cathedral or collegiate cities, sent their delegates to this congress of harmony, which, both in its vocal and instrumental departments, is supposed to have been the largest and most splendid ever assembled in one orchestra. That many defects and many shortcomings might be pointed out, may be readily imagined; it is enough that in its general effects the performance was wholly unexampled; that the representations of The Messiah and the Israel in Egypt, allowing for certain inevitable drawbacks, were the grandest and noblest on record; and that at each performance, the selection from the great composer's other works-one of the richest and most varied ever made-was calculated, with most convincing eloquence, to set forth that versatility, that comprehensiveness of his genius, which stamps the name of Handel, as of kindred with the immortal Shakspeare. The marked improvement in the choral singing of the masses, it must be admitted, is fairly attributable to the exertions of the Sacred Harmonic Society— at once the nucleus and the centre of so many other choral bodies throughout the country. period when music, and more especially choral music, claims so influential a share in the moral and intellectual training of the middle and lower classes of this country, the question of music being good or bad has consequently become one of very considerable import, and one impossible to be

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