from the south, whom a loyal curiosity had led to Edinburgh, was walking out, while the king was there, to admire the "gude auld town." It was getting dusk, and while he was sauntering along with an harmonious hum, he heard a rapid and gruff exclamation from above of "Hoot awa, wa'r below there;" he looked round him, with a graceful movement, but saw no danger. On the cry being loudly repeated, he stood still to ascertain whence it came; when he was, on a sudden, anointed with the contents of a bucket, to the utter and irretrievable ruin of his hitherto spotless pantaloons of Russia duck. Having succeeded in tracing the perpetrator of this unseemly offence, he summoned him the next day before a magistrate. On the offender being interrogated as to what he had to say in answer to the charge, he made a motion with his head, but said nothing. The questions were repeated, but not a word of reply. "Perhaps," Perhaps," said the magistrate, taking leisurely a pinch of rappee, "perhaps the man his dumb, and in that case"-" Oh! interrupted the complainant, "it's all sham; he's not dumb-no such thing; for before he emptied his bucket, he kept crying out like the devil, "Hoot, hoot there, hoot awa', wa'r below!"* 66 Well, then," said the magistrate, very coolly, why didn't you get out of the way 9

MATRIMONIAL JOURNAL. A gentleman lately took the following meteorological journal of his wife's temper Monday, rather cloudy; in the afternoon rainy. Tuesday, vapourish; brightened up a little at night. Wednesday,

changeable, gloomy, inclined to rain. Thursday, high wind, and some peals of thunder. Friday, fair in the morning; variable in the afternoon, cloudy all night. Saturday, a gentle breeze, hazy, a thick fog, and a few flashes of lightning.

While a party of sailors, on the 4th of July last, were engaged in firing a national salute, on board the steam-boat, Exchange, at Louisville, Kentucky, one of the men, with a lighted cigar in his mouth, took up a keg of powder and carried it to the bow of the boat. Just as he had laid it on the deck, a spark fell from his cigar into it, and it immediately exploded, tearing both his arms from his body, and blew him about twenty feet, a corpse. Three or four others were considerably injured.

The fear of not getting married after the 1st of September, without a considerable addition to the preliminary trouble and ceremony, operated forcibly on the lower classes in this parish, for, with a view to get the important business concluded before the day on which the operation of the marriage act took place, an exraordinary number of banns were published on Sunday the 18th ult. in our collegiate and parish church. The following are the number of couples whose intended marriages were nounced;-For the first time, 78 couple; second time, 125; third time, 58. Manchester Herald.

an

An amorous youth and a blooming damsel, within one hundred miles of Ulverston, having resolved to tie the matrimonial noose, had the banns published; but the sighing swain,

finding himself deficient in the "needful," canvassed all his friends for a supply, but in vain. Not to be driven from his purpose by trifling discouragement, he ordered the bride and her friends to repair to church, while he again scoured the town for eash. Finding his second application equally as unsuccessful as his first, he resolutely enlisted into the Lancashire militia, got married with part of the bounty, handed the rest to the smiling bride, and thus became a son of Mars and a disciple of Hymen at the same time !

CHERRY-STONES.-Mr. Moore informs us, that there is a cherrystone in the elector of Saxony's museum, at Dresden, upon which, by the help of a microscope, above a hundred faces may be distinguished. Dr. Oliver mentions having been shewn a cherry-stone, in Holland, with one hundred and twenty-four heads upon it, and all so perfect, that the naked eye might distinguish those of kings, popes, &c. by their crowns, mottos, &c. This curiosity was purchased in Prussia, for the sum of three hundred pounds, and is said to have been the workmanship of a poor wretch whilst in "durance vile," at Dantzic.

There is now living in East Kirkly, in the county of Lincoln, a man, aged 78 years, who has had but one wife, yet is father, grandfather, and great grandfather, to 78 children.

WELSH GENTILITY.-A whimsical story is told by Mr. Yorke, respecting an expedition of James the First into Wales. When he was on the road, near Chester, he was met by such numbers of the Welsh, who came out of cu

riosity to see him, the weather was so dry, and the roads so dusty, that he was nearly suffocated. He was completely at a loss in what manner to rid himself of them civilly; at last, one of his attendants putting his head out of the coach, said-" It is his majesty's pleasure that those who are the best gentlemen shall ride forwards." Away scampered the Welsh, and but one solitary man was left behind. "And so, sir," says the king to him, " you are not a gentleman then?" "O yes, and please hur majesty, hur is as good a shentleman as the rest, but hur ceffyl (horse), God help hur, is not so good."-Bingley's North Wales.

An instance of extraordinary powers in a female is observable at this time at Lutton, near Oundle. A woman, born deaf and dumb, and who is now nearly eighty years of age, has, for a great number of years, regularly reaped with the men in the harvest field. No one can do work better, nor is more handy and expeditious. At the present advanced time of her life she can cut, bind, and set up two roods a-day, beating many stout blustering reapers. She walks nearly two miles to her work, and through the day keeps time and pace with the men, and performs her work equal to any of them.-Rutland Mercury.

M. Henry, an engineer of the French royal corps of roads and bridges, has presented to the academy of sciences a plan for a new hydraulic machine, the object of which is to weigh loaded boats in the same manner as carriages are weighed, by means of loaded scales. The machine, it is said, will operate under water,

without preventing the boats from continuing to float. This new invention may be usefully applied to the collection of customs on navigable canals.

The English, like all the other European nations, have a fair complexion and soft appearance. The Turks, from this circumstance, say they look like women. A regiment of Highlanders, however, with their hard weatherbeaten faces, and overhanging brows, do not, certainly, look very like women.

AN UNDUTIFUL SON.-In the court for the relief of insolvent debtors, the will of a Mr. C. was read, containing the following remarkable passage—“ "I leave to my undutiful son, —, one hundred thousand pounds!"

A WORD IN SEASON.-A respectable tradesman in Bath has the following lines printed upon his shop-bills:

"My books are so cramm'd and bad

debts I've so many,

I'm resolv'd that in future I'll not trust a penny;

Giving credit to friends, often friendship

endangers, And I hope ne'er again to be cheated by strangers."

MANKS BULL.-The committee for improving a road in the Isle of Man, after due deliberation, had the following notice stuck up-" Whereas, the bridge of Kirk Braddon being pulling down before it is built, all persons going that way to Peel shall take the other road."

A workman in the employment of Mr. George Berry, ivory-comb-manufacturer, in Kendal, was instructed by his master to cut up a tusk into required lengths when the saw had penetrated the tusk to the depth of nearly an inch, it came in contact

with a hard metalic substance, almost impenetrable to the saw, and which blunted it rapidly. Complaining that he could not divide the piece, his master examined it, and split it off, when, to their astonishment, they discovered a common iron musketball firmly fixed in the tooth! On inspecting several pieces which had been cut from the same tusk, before they reached the part where the ball lodged, a mark ran through it sixteen inches long, so that the tooth must have grown over it many years after the ball was lodged there. It may, in all probability, have been the tusk of an Indian elephant, which had been fired at when pursued, as iron musketballs were formerly used in India, if not at present.

A large fish, of the whale species, denominated a finner, was seen by several persons, sporting in the deep, at a distance of ten or twelve miles from the land, off the mouth of the Tees and the Yorkshire coast. It appeared to be from sixty to seventy feet long. It repeatedly made its appearance on the surface of the sea, and as it rose was heard to snort loudly, while the water flew an almost incredible height from its nostrils.-Durham County Advertiser.

PICTATORIAL PUN.-It was said that somebody had discovered a new mode of opening oysters.— On hearing which, a person observed that it "would astonish the natives."

DISGRACEFUL AFFAIR.-In a neighbouring country town, a regiment was lately quartered, one of the officers of which lodged in the house of a respectable shopkeeper, who was a protest

ant, and had a handsome daughter, who attracted the attention of the officer. Her father spoke to him on the subject, when he said he would marry her if he had the father's consent, which was granted. A few days afterwards, he shewed the father a letter, said to have come from a rich uncle in Scotland, whom he stated to be worth 30,000l. and to whom he was heir; this letter Isaid that his uncle would disown him if he married any one who was not a Roman catholic, to which persuasion the officer said he belonged; the father made no objection to the proposition, and all matters were settled. The officer sent off to this city for the license, which he got, purporting to be signed by doctor Tuohy, the Roman catholic bishop of the diocese. The rev. Mr. H. priest of R. not aware of any deceit, performed the marriage ceremony, and the parties lived for some time happy; at length, it was found out that the officer had attempted to effect an exchange into a regiment now stationed in India, without telling his wife, and that he had declared the girl was not his wife that she was a Roman catholic, and he a protestant. That no ceremony of a Romish priest could make the marriage ceremony lawful. The young lady became naturally alarmed at this behaviour, and on expostulating with him he decamped. The necessary steps have been taken to bring him to justice, and thus the affair now stands. At present we decline giving the names of the parties. It is the opinion of the best lawyers, that even as the marriage now stands, it is quite valid in point of law. The

officer is in Dublin, where we understand he will be arrested under a fiat, granted by one of the judges who presided at the late assizes for the county.— Limerick Telegraph.

SHOCKING METHOD OF DESTROYING SHARKS.-The shark is such an enemy to our sea-faring brethren, that sailors have as little compassion for this creature as he has for them. This seatiger follows a vessel for several days, and snaps at and swallows indiscriminately every thing thrown into the surf. The sailors, taking advantage of this propensity, heat a brick flaming hot, which they cover with sail-cloth dipped in oil very thick, and, binding it tight with twine, throw it overboard. The greedy glutton swallows it: and in a few minutes the sea is all in a foam with his dying and spasmodic convulsions: the upturned white belly of the monster proclaims to the delighted mariners that the hour of tyranny is over!

On the mole, at Naples, there is a pyramid with a long Latin inscription, the purport of which is to point out to the people the wickedness of revolutions, and the necessity of a single ruler, but, unfortunately, the Neapolitans, with few exceptions, are not deeply learned in Latin. Those, therefore, for whom it is written, do not understand it: for those who do, it is not placed there.

A bishop at sea, in a gale of wind, heard one of the people say " In five minutes we shall be in heaven." "God forbid !" cried the bishop.

A missionary tells us that a hramin, of the name of Ananda Rayer, passed a great part of his

time in learning the following prayer" Ohm prom zrum kliem bloom alim hohm crome zrum hum paddoh aram." After repeating this prayer 400,000 times he was to be happy in this world and the next. He completed this great work in forty days, living on milk and rice, mixed with water. Alas, for earthly expectations, he was not to be blessed. He repeated the prayer a million times, and was as unhappy as before. His faith in Ohm Prom now departed from him, and he entered into the catholic church.

On expressing some doubts, however, concerning the worship of images, he was informed by the priest, that they were only for the common people, for whom it was necessary to have something which they could see and feel.

GIPSY MARRIAGE.-On Wednesday, the 14th ult. was married at Lower Winchendon, Bucks, by the Rev. T. Hayton, John Fletcher to Teanaah Buckland, daughter of Edward Buckland, head of a tribe of gipsies, who have long frequented that part of Buckinghamshire. After the ceremony the party retired to a lane adjacent to the village, where they partook of an excellent dinner, provided for the occasion, part of which was served on solid plate, and the remainder on beautiful Oriental china.

The novelty of the scene attracted a number of respectable people from the neigbouring villages, all of whom were requested to partake of their cheer.

SUCCESS OF AN IMPOSTOR. Some time ago the foreign journals mentioned a woman of the name of Milfort, who pretended to perform miracles. A singular accident happened at her trial, as a rogue and cheat, at Charleville, on the 17th ult. Her advocate, in making the best defence he could for her, quoted the Evangelist in a way which so greatly incensed the judge that he dropped dead in a fit while ordering him to quit the court. The crowd immediately shouted "A miracle!" and it is justly apprehended that this untoward circumstance will produce very bad effects on the minds of the ignorant.

A MONSTER. -Two young ladies, Misses Appleton, were impertinently accosted on Monday evening, at dusk, at the end of Baker-street, New-road, by a ruffian, dressed like a gentleman, who followed them down the New-road. In endeavouring to avoid his insolent importunities the ladies stopped, when the villain stabbed one of them in the lower part of the back and made off.

The lady fainted, and the monster escaped.