Hangmen in Poland.-" Aug. 3. 1662. This day Commissioner Pett told me how despicable a thing it is to be hangman in Poland, although it be a place of credit: and that, in his time, there was some repairs to be made of the gallows there, which was very fine, of stone; but nobody could be got to mend it till the burgomaster, or mayor of the town, with all the companies of those trades which were necessary to be used about those repairs, did go in their habits with flags, in solemn procession to the place; and there the Burgomaster did give the first blow with the hammer upon the wooden work, and the rest of the masters of the companies upon the works belonging to their trades, that no workmen might not be ashamed to be employed upon doing of the gallows works."-Pepys' Diary.

Vizards at Public Places.-" June 12, 1663. To the Royal Theatre, and there saw the Committee,' (a comedy by Sir Robert Howard,) a merry but indifferent play; only Lacey's part, an Irish footman, is beyond imagination. Here I saw my Lord Falconbridge, and his lady, my Lady Mary Cromwell, who looks as well as I have known her, and well clad; but when the house began to fill she put on her vizard, and so kept it on all the play; which of late is become a great fashion among the ladies, which hides their whole face. So to the Exchange, to buy things, with my wife; among others, a vizard for herself."-Pepys' Diary.

Early Improvements.-" 1663. To Westminster, where all along I find the shops evening with the sides of the houses, even in the broadest streets; which will make the city very much better than it was."-Pepys' Diary.

Chinese Notion of Dancing.-When Commodore Anson was at Canton, the officers of the Centurion had a ball upon some court holiday: while they were dancing, a Chinese, who very quietly surveyed the operation, said softly to one of the party, Why don't you let your servants do this for you?"

Shakspeare. It is wonderful how often we see and hear of Shakspeare's plays, without being annoyed by it. Were it any other writer, we should be sick to death of the very name. But his volumes are like those of nature, we can turn to them again and again.Hazlitt.

Excellence in Painting. The dispute of Zeuxis with Parrhasius. for the prize in painting, is thus related by Pliny. Zeuxis had painted some grapes so naturally, that the birds used to come and peck at them; and Parrhasius had represented a curtain so artfully, that Zeuxis desired it to be drawn aside that he might see the painting behind it. Discovering his mistake, he confessed himself vauquished; since he bad only imposed on birds, whereas Parrhasius had misled those even who were judges of the art. Another time he painted a boy laden with grapes, when the birds flew again at the picture; this vexed him, for he frankly confessed, that, had the boy been as perfectly represented as the grapes, the birds would have been afraid of him. He died of a fit of laughter, at the sight of an old woman which he had drawn.

Halley's Comet.-Augsburg, Jan. 14. The comet, which was invisible for a month, was visible from the observatory at Milan on the 30th of Dec. The intensity of its light was greater than when at the same distance from the earth before it passed perihelion, and was nearly equal to its light on the 9th of September. It will be visible till April.

Trial for the attempted Assassination of the King of the French.-The day before Fieschi's trial, on the 29th ult., 17,500 applications had been made to the Chamber of Peers to be present to witness it.

Conflagration at New York. The past month has brought us tidings of one of the greatest conflagrations within recollectionof more than half that great and magnificent city. For particulars we must refer to the journals, which contain a full account of the melancholy accident. It seems, however, that, with the most laudable resignation and commendable zeal, the inhabitants have consulted together, how to build up again a new city, in the greatest possible magnificence; and that their brethren in the other states, and the authorities, have come forward, in the most generous and noble manner, to aid them in their difficulty.

Good and Evil.-No insurances, it seems, were effected in this country of any property in the city of New York. It would most probably have been otherwise, had the attempt made some short time back to reduce the rates of duty been successful, and ruin would thereby, no doubt, have been brought upon many of our most substantial offices.

'Tis an ill wind that blows no one good.Orders have been received from New York, at the manufactories of Charleroy in Belgium, to supply, by the beginning of February next, 700 chests of window glass, to supply the loss of those destroyed by fire.

Coronation. The King of Bohemia will be crowned at Prague, in September next.

Female Attire.-It is well known that a loose and easy dress contributes much to give to both sexes those fine proportions of body that are observable in the Grecian statues, and which serve as models to our present artists; nature being too much disfigured among us to afford them any such. The Greeks knew nothing of those Gothic shackles, that multiplicity of li gatures and bandages with which our bodies are compressed. Their women were ignorant of the use of whalebone stays, by which ours distort their shape, instead of displaying it. This practice, carried to so great an excess as it is in England, must in time degenerate the species, and is an instance of bad taste. Can it be a pleasing sight to behold a woman cut in two in the middle as it were, like a wasp? On the contrary, it is as shocking to the eye as it is painful to the ima gination. A fine shape, like the limbs, hath its due proportions and size, a diminution of which is certainly a defect Such a deformity also would be shocking in a naked figure; wherefore, then, should it be esteemed a beauty in one that is dressed? Every thing that confines and lays nature under a restraint, is an instance

of bad taste. This is as true in regard to the ornaments of the body as to the embellishments of the mind. Life, health, reason, and convenience, ought to be first taken into consideration. Gracefulness cannot subsist without ease; delicacy is not debility; nor must a woman be sick in order to please. Infirmity and sickness may excite our pity, but desire and pleasure require the bloom and vigour of health.— Rousseau.

A Sad Disappointment. - The Princess C-t-ki was the beauty, par distinction, when a girl at St. Petersburgh. Among her thousand-and-one lovers was the Count Zebullon, who, in utter despair, at last set off in search of the waters of oblivion. At Constantinople, however, he received a letter from the lady, begging him to return on an affair of great importance. Supposing that distance had lent enchantment to the view," he returned with the delightful belief that the lady had relented in his favour. He found her lovelier than ever; and, receiving him with great empressement, she exclaimed, "My dear count, knowing the great friendship you have for me, I sent for you to tell you that the Prince of Chas made me an offer, and to ask if you think that it would be for my advantage to accept him."

Superstition.-It is related o 1 Bourger and his companions, that when they went to Peru for the purpose of measuring an arc of the meridian near the equator, the sight of their various instruments so alarmed the credulous and superstitious inhabitants, that a deputation was despatched to them, entreating them "to depart out of their coasts," and not bring down the wrath of Heaven upon the land by practising their unholy and magical devices.

Choice of a Wife.-The general and constant advice he gave, too, when consulted about the choice of a wife, a profession, or whatever influences a man's particular and immediate happiness, was always to reject no positive good from fears of its contrary consequences. · Do not," said he, forbear to marry a beautiful woman, if you can find such, out of a fancy that she will be less constant than an ugly one; or condemn yourself to the society of coarseness and vulgarity for fear of the expenses, or other dangers, of elegance and personal charms; which have been always acknowledged as a positive good, and for the want of which there be always given some weighty compensation. I have, however," continued Mr. Johnson, "seen some prudent fellows who forbore to connect themselves with beauty lest coquetry should be near, and with wit or birth, lest insolence should lurk behind them, till they have been forced by their discretion to linger life away in tasteless stupidity, and choose to count the moments by remembrance of pain, instead of enjoyment of pleasure."Johnsoniana.

Love. When we hear complaints of the vanity or wretchedness of human life, to such the proper answer would be, that there is hardly any one who, at some time or other, has not been in love. If we consider the high abstraction of this feeling, its depth, its purity, its voluptuous refinement, even in the meanest breast, how sacred and how sweet it is. This alone may reconcile us to the lot of humanity.

That drop of balm, which turns the bitter cup to a delicious nectar,

"And vindicates the ways of God to man." The Flying Dutchman or Phantom Ship.-"The supposed origin of the Flying Dutchman,' is that a vessel from Batavia was on the point of entering Table Bay in stress of weather during the Dutch occupation of the Cape, when in the winter season no vessel was allowed to enter the bay the batteries fired on the distressed ship, and compelled it to put to sea, where it was lost, and as the sailors say, has continued ever since beating about, and will continue to do so till the day of judgment. The Dutchman' is said to appear generally to ships in a heavy gale with all sail set-and when the eastern navigator is in a calm, the Dutchman appears to be scudding under bare poles, or frequently he appears to be sailing against the wind. As many persons think such an appari. tion the creation of fancy, I give the following statement, which was noted down in the logbook of his Majesty's ship Leven, when employed with the Barracouta, &c. in surveying East Africa, and in the perils and disasters of which squadron I participated for two years. His Majesty's ship Leven, Capt. W. F. W. Owen, on the 6th April, 1823, when off Port Danger, on her voyage from Algoa to Simon's Bay, saw her consort the Barracouta about two miles to leeward; this was considered extraordinary, as her sailing orders were in a different direction; but her peculiar rig left not a doubt as to her identity, and at last many well-known faces were distinctly visible looking towards the Leven. Capt. Owen attempted to close with her to speak, but was surprised that she not only made no effort to join the Leven, on the contrary stood away: being near the destined port, Capt. Owen did not follow her, and continued on bis course to the Cape, but at sunset she was observed to beave to and lower a boat, apparently for the purpose of picking up a man overboard; during the night there was no light nor any symptoms of her locality. The next morning the Leven anchored in Simon's Bay, where for a whole week the Barracouta was anxiously expected: on her arrival (the 14th) it was seen by her log that she was 300 miles from the Leven when the latter thought she saw her, and had not lowered any boat that evening; it should also be remarked, that no other vessel of the same class was ever seen about the Cape. On another occasion a similar phenomenon occurred to the Leven, and a boat was apparently lowered as if the phantom sought to lure his victim; the veteran sailor was not to be caught, and the Leven, after many perils, reached England in safety. Thrice as a passen. ger in a merchant ship, I saw a vessel in nearly similar circumstances: on one occasion we hoisted lights over the gangway to speak with the stranger; the third was on my return from India, in July, 1830. We had been in dirty weather, as the sailors say, for several days, and to beguile the time, I commenced after dinner narrating to the French officers and passengers (who were strangers to the Eastern seas), the stories current about the Flying Dutchman' the wind, which had been freshening during the evening, now blew a stiff gale, and we proceeded on deck to see the crew make our bark all snug for the night; the clouds, dark

and heavy, coursed with rapidity across the bright moon, whose lustre is so peculiar in the S. hemisphere, and we could see a distance from eight to ten miles on the horizon: suddenly, the second othcer, a fine Marseilles sailor, who had been among the foremost in the cabin in laugh. ing at and ridiculing the story of the Flying Dutchman,' ascended the weather rigging, exclaiming, voila, le volant Hollondais; the captain sent for his night-glass, and soon observed, it is very strange, but there is a ship bearing down upon us with all sail set, while we dare scarcely show a pocket-handkerchief to the breeze. In a few minutes the stranger was visible to all on deck, her rig plainly discernible, and people on her deck; she seemed to near us with the rapidity of lightning, and apparently wished to pass under our quarter, for the purpose of speaking; the captain, a resolute Bordeaux sailor, said it was quite incomprehensible, and prepared the trumpet to hail or answer, when in an instant, and while we were all standing on the qui vive, the stranger totally disappeared, and was no more seen. I give this, coupled with Capt. Owen's statement as regards H. M.'s ship Leven, without remark, and, but that it would seem frivolous, could relate several other instances. I may, however, add, that Sir Charles Forbes has just informed me, that be has received a letter from a lady passenger in the Buckinghamshire Indiaman, when recently conveying Sir Robert Grant to Bombay, in which letter a similar phantom is described to have been seen near the Cape of Good Hope, and instantly recognised as the Flying Dutchman."-R. M. Martin's " Africa."

Cold Roast Veal.-Recipe for one of several winter dishes, within the reach of any tradesman's family, combining economy with nourishment, capable of being digested with little effort. In most families, cold roast veal is converted the next day into mince veal, too often hard from being made over a brisk fire, at full boil. The following preparation of the cold veal should be substituted :-" Cut the veal into bits about an inch square, and of the thinness of an ordinary slice; beat up the yolks of two eggs, with a little grated nutmeg, and a table-spoonful of cold water. Put a stewpan

upou the fire, and into it a lump of fresh butter. When boiling in full ebullition, sprinkle in half a table-spoonful of flour; stir this round several times. When the butter and flour are well mixed, and before the latter begins to change colour, add half a pint of broth (or of water, if there is no broth,) a glass of white wine, a little bit of orange peel shred very minutely, and a small bundle of herbs, either in a bair bag, or well tied together, consisting of some parsley, a bay leaf, and one clove of garlic. Let all this boil up, stirring it now and then, until it be comes of a proper thickness. Then salt it to the taste, adding a very small quantity of white pepper. The boiling may continue altogether about ten minutes. The veal must then be put in to simmer, but must not boil, otherwise it will be hard. After the meat is put in, the fire should then be very slow. Let the whole simmer during ten minutes; then take it off and extract the bundle of herbs. In fifteen or twenty seconds after the stewpan has been taken from the fire, throw in the prepared yolks of eggs, shaking the whole so as to mix it well without the aid of a spoon. It may then be

dished up. The most delicate stomach will feel no inconvenience from this preparation, which is, besides, very grateful to the palate."

Law of Scotland-Alleged murder. The law of Scotland has in many respects a great advantage over that of England. Here a man is either guilty or not guilty, and he cannot be declared "guilty" if any part of the evidence fail, though there rest not on the minds of any of the Court an opinion that he really is so. In the High Court of Justiciary at Glasgow, Ann Shaw took her trial on the charge of having murdered Helen Kelly with a knife. There was a want of evidence to prove the blow was struck by the prisoner. Lord Mackenzie, however, gave his opinion that the prisoner was guilty of murder. After an hour, seven of the jury were for a verdict of" culpable homicide," five for "guilty of murder," and three for a verdict of" non proven." This not being considered a verdict, they again retired, and brought her in guilty of culpable homicide;" and she was sentenced to fourteen years' transportation.

With all the affectation, however, in the English law, that a man is innocent until he is found to be guilty, a person accused, whether maliciously, justly, or innocently, is sent to the same prison as one really a culprit - is brought up and placed as a prisoner at the bar, and looked upon, and treated as such, from the moment, if really innocent of the unfortunate accusation, at the hands of policeman, turnkeys, and officers of every grade. Surely, if the English law be one of strict justice, every person accused should be treated according to his condition in life, whatever his offence, so long as he be in person secure for the ends of justice. We have not lost sight of license in many cases to give baii; but even in this matter, there is too little respect for the grand principle, that as every Englishman's home is his castle, so every person is "regarded" as innocent until he be declared by a verdict " guilty."

Curing Bacon. The pigs are hungered at least twenty-four hours before they are killed; thirty-six is perhaps better. It relieves the vessels, which, if loaded, would lead to putrefact on. The animal must be as little irritated as possible when killed, and the more speedily it is effected the better; humanity and interest alike demand it. Suffer it to remain twentyfour hours to cool. When cut up, it is to be conveyed to lead bowls, having first wiped salt over the swarth (skin) side with the hands, taking care to put the salt and saltpetre into the" shank ends," in order that it may effectually reach the bone. The flesh side is then turned uppermost, covered with salt, and sprinkled with saltpetre: tue proportions are, for a twenty-stone pig, a stone of salt and a pound of saltpetre. The bacon, in a week, is all removed; the uppermort parts are put lowest, and the lowest uppermost, and more salt is added to those parts from which it may have disappeared. In three or four weeks, it is fit to hang up and dry, and it has never failed in a single instance. The flesh must not be rubbed during the process; it only excites the putrefactive process, and the salt can never be rubbed through the skin. When hung up, above all, see that the place be cool and airy (much depends on this), and remove it, and add salt frequently--Farmer's Magazine.

Female Presence of Mind.-On Monday, January 11, at Woolwich, the wife of Corporal Jessy, Royal Marines, found her husband suspended by the neck quite black in the face: She had but just quitted the apartment for the supper beer without delaying in giving alarm, she cut him down, and with medical aid his life was preserved.

Heroic Madness.-In the 19th century, Bourrachon, a dancer at the Grand Theatre, Lyons, proposed, says the Censeur, to practise pistol firing to his companions at a gallery, betting that he would hit the bull's-eye the first shot. Having primed and loaded his pistol, he cried out There's the bull's-eye!" put the weapon into his mouth, and shot himself dead!

BIRTHS.

Jan. 2, in Guildford-street, Russell-square, the lady of Robert Walter Carden, Esq., of a son.-Jan. 17, in New Burlington-street, Mrs. R. Bentley, of a son.-Jan 17, at Brighton, the lady of R. Gosling, Esq., of a son.-Jan. 17, at Leamington, Warwickshire, the lady of Sir E. Blount, Bart., of a daughter. -Jan. 19, in Dorset-street, Portman-square, the lady of the Rev. G. H. Hasker, of a daughter.-Jan. 21, at No. 8, Canonbury-terrace, the lady of J. Veitch, Esq., of the Excise, of twin daughters.Jan. 22, at Shottesbrooke-park, the lady of Col Sir H. Watson, C. B., and C.T.S., of a son.-Jan. 18, the lady of S. Girdlestone, jun. Esq., Chester-terrace, Regent's-park, of a daughter.--Jan. 20, in Grosvenor-square, the Countess of Danneskiold Samsoe, of a daughter Jan. 20, at West Wickham, the lady of the Hon. and Rev. H. H. Courtenay, of a son.Jan. 21, the lady of Major Dyce, Madras Army, of a daughter.-Jan. 21, the lady of B. Peacock, Esq., of Avenne-road, Regent's-park, of a son.-Jan. 24, in Welbeck-street, the lady of the Rev. Samuel Paynter, of a son.-Jan. 14, at Nice, the lady of T. R. Bowling, Esq., of Hammersmith of a son.-Jan. 25, in Old Dorset-place, Clapham-road, Mrs. Washington Lee, of a son.-Jan. 25, in Bedford-square, the wife of the Rev. J. Endell Tyler, of a son.-Jan, 26, the lady of W. C. Macdougal, Esq., of a son, still-born.-Jan. 26, in Upper Stamford-street, Mrs. Lawrence Engstrom, of a daughter--Jan. 24, at St. Stephen's vicarage, the wife of the Rev. T. B. Edwards, of a son.-Jan. 23, at Clapham-rise, Mrs. William Carr, of a son.-Jan. 25, at Norwood hill, Surrey, the wife of Lea Wilson, of a daughter.

MARRIAGES.

Jan. 19, in Pulteney-street, Bath, by special license, the Right Hon. Lord Carrington, to Mrs. Trevelyan.-Jan. 21, at St. James's Church, West minster, the Rev. C. Rawlings, to Charlotte Hill, youngest daughter of the late G. Rickards, Esq., of Piccadilly.-Jan. 14, at Sterling, Lieut -Col. H. Tenant, of the East India Company's-service, to Helen Howorth, only daughter of the late Lient.Gen. Graham.-Jan. 16, at St. Mary's, Buckland, Portsea, J. A. Drought, Esq., to Caroline Susanna, daughter of the late Lieut.-Col. J. White, of the 80th Foot.-Jan. 20, G. W. Tobias, second son of M. I. Tobias, Esq., of Liverpool, to Matilda, second danghter of D. Levy, Esq., of Woburn-square.-Jan. 20, at St. George's, Hanover-square, Viscount Powers. court, to Lady Elizabeth Jocelyn, eldest daughter to the Earl of Roden.-Dec. 30, at Ipswich, Charles Childs, Esq., of Bungay, to Emily, eldest daughter of Mr. Shepherd Ray, of Ipswich.-Jan. 25, the Rev. John Bishop, tutor, of Willington Cottage, Upper Holloway, to Frances, widow of the late Richard Arnold, Esq.-Jan. 27, at St. Paul's, Ball'spond, Mr. John S. Venn, of Canonbury-square, to Emma, second daughter of Mr. William Collins, of Highbury-park.-Jan. 19, at St. Marylebone Church, William K. Worster, Esq, of the Madras Artillery, to Sarah Eliza, eldest daughter of William Young Ottley, Esq., of Devonshire-street, Portland-place.

DEATHS.

Jan. 17, at her residence, Mortimer-street, the Dowager Lady Blunt, aged 91.-Jan. 15, at his residence at Leamington, sincerely lamented, B. Sparrow, Esq., aged 76.-Jan. 10, at Bownham, near Minchinhampton, in the 86th year of her age, Mrs. Anne Strachy, widow of the late Rev. Dr. Strachy.Jan. 15, of a bilious fever, at his residence, Ardsal. lagh, in the county of Waterford, D. Ronayne, Esq., M.P.: his death occasions a vacancy in the representation of the borough of Clonmel.- Jan. 15, at Dublin Castle, Colonel Gore.-Jan. 19, in the 70th year of his age, Wm. George, Esq, late of the Charter-house.-At Hornby Castle, Charlotte Lane Fox.-Jan. 18, in Wimpole-street, in the 85th year of his age, the Right Hon. Sir H. Russell, Bart.-Jan. 17, at Richmond, Surrey, in her 69th year, sincerely lamented, Lady Stanley, wife of Sir E. Stanley, late Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of Judicature at Madras, and one of the King's Counsel in Ireland. This lady was formerly Miss Jane Talbot, of the Mount Talbot family, in Ireland.-Jan. 22, at his residence, Scole Lodge, Norfolk, John Ayton, Esq., aged 77.-Jan. 18, at Kew, Elizabeth, widow of the late J. Nooth, Esq., of Bath, and only daughter of the late John Bindley, Esq., M.P., of Cavershamgrove, in the county of Berks.-Jan. 14, at Paris, after an illness of only four days, the Hon. A L. A. Cooper, youngest son of the Earl of Shaftesbury. -Jan. 18, at Brighton, in her 83rd year, Mary Brydges, widow of the late B. Travers, Esq.-Jan. 21, in the 35th year of her age, Mary, the wife of J. Minors, Esq., Lower Brook street, Grosvenor.square. -Jan. 12, abroad, aged 99, W. Piruer, Esq., late of Arlington-street, St. James's, where, for the long period of nearly 80 years, he had been an inhabitant.

At his cottage, Crickhowel, Colonel Williams, aged 31, youngest son of H. Williams, Esq., Lanspythld, grandson of R. Phytherick, Esq., of Kilwhybart, Breconshire.-Jan. 17, at her residence, Woolwichcommon, Mrs. Fead, in her 85th year, widow of the late Lient.-Gen. Fead, of the Royal Artillery.-Dec. 27, Henrietta: infant daughter of Lord Ernest Bruce. -Jan. 1, at Blackheath, Mr. Charles Murel, late of Pudding-lane, merchant, aged 76, much respected.Jan. 25, at Dulwich, Charles Kingsley, Esq., in his 52d year. Jan. 22, at his house, Chigwell-row, Eumenes Moore, Esq., in his 81st year.-Dec. 19, at Ewelme, in Oxfordshire, Dr. Burton, Regius Professor of Divinity, and one of eight canons of Christ Church Oxford; by which a valuable preferment falls to the Crown. The canonry is worth about 15001. a year; the professorship only abont 401.-Sept 1, 1835, at Barrackpore, Henrietta, the wife of Captain John Graham, 50th Regiment of the Native Infantry. and only daughter of Major-Gen. Watson.-Jan. 17, Richard Watkins, Esq., of St. Lawrence, near Chepstow, many years Deputy-Lieutenant of the county of Monmouth, in his 78th year.-Jan. 22, at Whitby, Yorkshire, Edward Chapman, Esq., one of his Majesty's Deputy-Lieutenants for the North Riding, aged 06-Jan. 25, at Dulwich, Charles Kingsley, Esq., in his 53rd year.-Jan. 22, at St. Leonards, David Martineau, Esq., aged 84.