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dined early. Well, I'll just go and make myself comfortable, and come down to you. Charming house-delightful distance, I declare!"-"Where can we put him?" inquired Mrs. Wadd; "we can't turn him out now he is here. "There is the blue bed," replied Wadd, "it has never been slept in, and may require airing, in case I should want to use it myself; the very thought of a damp bed makes me tremble, so put him into that."

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The next day was, as Mr. Wobble had sagely foretold it would be, Sunday, a day of all others dearest to Rufus Wadd, who liked to have his time, as indeed, he liked to have every thing else to himself. But to him this "Sabbath was no day of rest." The twelve o'clock coach brought Mr. and Mrs. William Wadd, who apologised for not getting down in time to breakfast, the distance being so short it was shameful to lose the fine of the morning; but then the one o'clock coach made ample amends to the amiable host, for it brought Mr. Parkins (the currier), and his son, just in time for luncheon."The distance is so convenient," observed the latter, "that one can calculate one's time to a moment; and then the luxury of being set down at the very door!" I'll set fire to the house, thought Rufus. The next conveyance introduced Peter Wadd. "I'm sorry your wife is not with you," said Rufus, putting the best face he could on the matter, yet heartily glad at seeing him solus. "You know how it is, Rufus; women are never ready; but as the distance is positively not worth mentioning, I left them to come by themselves by the next stage."-" Them! !"—"O-aythe two Miss Praters are staying with with us, so we couldn't do less than invite them to come with us. As I said to Jane, where two can dine three can dine, and besides you can make an addition to your provision with so little difficulty at this charming place-you are at such a convenient distance !"

These two or three days are types of most of those which followed. Mr. Wadd saw his projects frustrated, his hopes of leisure and retirement destroyed. He was seldom left alone, except when he would have given one of his ears for society-that was when it rained a deluge, and he was constrained to remain in-doors, and seek amusement in beating the devil's tattoo with his fingers on the plate-glass windows of his front parlour, or watching the little circles, made by the little rain-drops, in the little cistern wherein Cupid stood.

His temper, his patience, his health, and perhaps his income, would not much longer have held out against the daily importations of visiters, consigned to him through the medium of those moving lazar-houses, the Turnham Green stages, carrying only six inside; and he began to think of stealing a mile or two lower down the road. One morning at breakfast, while Rufus was reading the Morning Post, Mrs. Wadd and Jemima were alarmed at hearing a sort of a rattling sound in the good man's throat. The paper had fallen from his hand, and a piece of toast was sticking in his mouth: he was within an ace of choking, but their attentions presently revived him. He spoke not, but pointed to the paragraph which had so fearfully affected him. It ran as follows: "We are happy to learn that four Omnibuses, each carrying sixteen inside, will run daily between the City and Turnham Green."

It is supposed that Mr. Rufus Wadd is gone with his family to reside at one of the most distant settlements on the Swan River.--New Monthly Magazine.

MUSIC OF BIRDS.

IT is not in towns, amid the discordant sounds of artificial life, that the simple denizens of air can be listened to with advantage. The outskirts of a country village in a champaign country, where trees and copses are numerous, but not dense (for song-birds affect neither the wood nor the wild), is the place where these companions of the spring are truly at home; and he who would most exquisitely enjoy their untaught warblings, must wake when they wake. In the heat of noon-tide, when the insect tribe are on the wing, the birds are too busy in procuring subsistence to attend to play. Then it is that the call of business is imperative, in the country as in the town; and the merry lark chants not to the idle, but to the industrious. The morning is the time for enjoying the song of birds; and he who would hear it in perfection, must not grudge to watch for it the livelong night. It is only in this way that the first starting note of the joyous concert, as well as its dying fall, can be heard. The nightingale is said to sing her amorous descant all night long; but there are not a few that go far to rival her in this respect. The thrush will often be heard after twilight has far advanced; and later in the season, the song of the robin echoes round the cottage, when, from the dim decaying light, the body of the warbler can no longer be seen. Most of the

other song-birds cease their notes when the disk of the sun sinks behind the western hills. About half-past nine the thrush begins to nod on the bough (we speak of those latitudes to which Philomel comes not,) the only sound that strikes the ear from the time that she has ceased to charm it, is the cry of the land-rail. It is wonderful how brief is the interruption to the not unpleasing "craik" of this singular bird. We have heard it until within a quarter of twelve, and it sounded again by half-past twelve. This was in a part of the island where, in the middle of June, there is twilight even at the noon of night. By one o'clock, or a very little after, there may be distinguished a few faint twitters at intervals. These are the gathering-call of the lark. At first it does not soar as it sings; the sound is as it were the dream of its day-song. By two, it springs from the dewy daisy which had bent under its breast, to greet the sun from the gates of heaven. For some time the early chorister is unaccompanied. Gradually, however, as it rises, the light increases; the cold blue streak in the far north-east begins to change to red; the breath of morn blows cool; the ruddy glow shoots upward; at length the golden rim of the glorious sun touches the horizon; and in an instant, as if roused by an electric shock, one universal matin-hymn bursts from every tree and bush, as far round as the ear can drink in the notes. The change from the solitary voicing of the lark to the universal chorus, in which

The linnet, chaffinch, bulfinch, goldfinch, green

finch,

And all the finches of the grove,"

as Tilburina has it, bear their part, is exquisitely pleasing. For it may be noticed, that how various soever may be the notes of singing birds, they all harmonize; there is infinite diversity of tone and of tune, but there is no discord. This universal burst of song continues for about a quarter of an hour, and then the silence becomes almost as perfect as it was before it was broken by the appearance of the sun. The little people having offered up their morning thanks, disperse in search of food; and though the parts of the chorus are taken up by numerous detached pipes in the course of the day, the whole is not rehearsed until another sun has once more given the signal. To those who would investigate the songs of particular birds, the evening is the best time; for as the calm hour approaches, they one by one drop into silence, and their several excellencies may be the more easily appreciated. But if our readers, who have

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THE mosaic pavement was done by Richard de Ware, Abbot of Westminster, in the year 1260, who brought from Rome the stones, and workmen to set them. It is much admired; and there were letters round it in brass, which composed Latin words. The design of the figures that were in it was to represent the time the world was to last, or the primum mobile, according to the Ptolemaic system, was going about, and was contained in some verses formerly to be read on the pavement, relating to those figures. The following explication is given of them :-If the reader will prudently revolve all these things in his mind, he will find them plainly refer to the end of the world. The threefold hedge is put for three years, the time a day hedge usually stood; a dog for three times that space, or nine years, it being taken for the time that creature usually lives; a horse, in like manner, for twenty-seven; a man, for eightyone; a hart, two hundred and fortythree; a raven, seven hundred and twenty-nine; an eagle, two thousand one hundred and eighty-seven; a great whale, six thousand five hurdred and sixty-one; the world, nineteen thousand six hundred, and eighty-three ;-each succeeding figure giving a term of years, imagined to be the time of their continuance, three times as much as that before it. In the four last verses, the time when the work was performed, and the parties concerned in it, are expressed that King Henry the Third was at the charge; that the stones were purchased at Rome; that one Oderick was the master-workman; and that the Abbot of Westminster (who procured the materials) had the care of the work.

ANCIENT LEGENDARY SCULPTURES.

ALONG the frieze of the screen of St. Edward's Chapel, Westminster Abbey, are fourteen legendary sculptures, respecting the Confessor. The first is the trial of Queen Emma; the next, the birth of Edward; another is his corona

tion; the fourth tells us how our saint was frightened into the abolition of the Dane-gelt, by his seeing the devil dance upon the money-casks; the fifth is the story of his winking at the thief who was robbing his treasure; the sixth is meant to relate the appearance of our Saviour to him; the seventh shows how the invasion of England was frustrated by the drowning of the Danish King; in the eighth is seen the quarrel between the boys Tosti and Harold, predicting their respective fates; in the ninth sculpture is the Confessor's vision of the seven sleepers; the tenth, how he meets St. John the Evangelist, in the guise of a pilgrim; the eleventh, how the blind were cured by their eyes being washed: in his dirty water; the twelfth, how St. John delivers to the pilgrims a ring; in the thirteenth they deliver the ring to the King, which he had unknowingly given to St. John as an alms, when he met him in the form of a pilgrim,-this was attended with a message from the Saint, foretelling the death of the King; and the fourteenth shows the consequential haste made by him to complete his pious foundation.

The Gatherer.

A snapper up of unconsidered trifles.
SHAKSPEARE.

IRISH POLLING.

as

ENTER an octogenarian, staggering, preceded by his landlord, strutting. Landlord (to Sheriff's Deputy)-"Please to poll this man, Michael Moss." Deputy-" "Silence in the court ! (He opens the book.) Michael Moss.' Moss (hiccupping)—"Micky is my name, Purty Micky Moss." Deputy-"Value 507.-house and lands-parish of St. Margaret's date of laise, 9th May, 1820. Misthur Moss, stand up, sir, if you please." Mr. Moss stands up a well as he is able. Deputy "For whom do you vote, Misther Moss ?" Moss"For Lord Brabazon and the brave Colonel White." Deputy-"Sit down, Mr. Moss, and don't go away.", Moss"Oh, never fare, I am no runaway.' Deputy-"Is there any objection to Mr. Moss's vote?" An Attorney-" I will send up an objection in the name of Mr. Hamilton, that he dthrunk too much punch." Another Attorney "Ordthur Micky a pint of punch." Deputy "Mr. Moss, you may go away." Mr. Moss.-Morning Herald.

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Exit

In William Hunter's Memoir is the following:

"When he invited his younger friends to his table, they were seldom regaled with more than two dishes; when alone, he rarely sat down to more than one: he would say,' A man who cannot dine on this, deserves to have no dinner.' After the meal, his servant (who was also the attendant on the anatomical theatre) used to hand round a single, glass of wine to each of his guests. These trifles are mentioned as a trait of the old manner of professional life, and as a feature of the man who devoted seventy thousand pounds to create a museum for the benefit of posterity.".

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THE Marchioness of Hastings, when in India, observed that one of her female attendants absented herself during, an eclipse of the moon. On inquiry, whither she had been, the woman an-, swered, that she had been paying the cobbler, for that it was quite dark." Not perceiving what connexion the darkness had with the payment, her ladyship naturally required a solution of the mystery. "Oh," said the simple creature, it is an old story: a long while, ago, they borrowed nails and a piece of leather of a cobbler, to nail, over the moon. The cobbler never was repaid; so I have been with the rest to pay our share of money to the priest."

Literary Gazette.

FOR ALL FAMILIES.

In a closely-printed volume, price 5s. the
FAMILY MANUAL,

AND SERVANTS' GUIDE.

"A very useful little work, which will at once › serve as a cookery-book, a guide for every description of servants, and a valuable assistant to the head of every family. We shall recommend this book every where, if it were only for the sake of the excellent suggestions on the selfimprovement of house servants."-Gardeners' Magazine, June, 1830.

JOHN LIMBIRD, 143, Strand, near Somerset

House.

Printed and Published by J. LIMBIRD, 143, Strand, (near Somerset House,) London; sold by ERNEST fleischer, 626, New Market,› Leipsic; and by all Newsmen and Booksellers.

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THE HOTEL DE VILLE, PARIS. THIS is the Guild Hall of the City of Paris. It is situated in the Place de Grève, on the North Bank of the River Seine. It is a place of some importance in the revolutionary annals of France, and was one of the warmly contested positions during the struggles of the 28th and 29th of July last.

The history of the place is as follows: "The first stone was laid July 15, 1533, by Pierre de Viole, prévôt des marchands, The front was raised to the second story. in the Gothic style; but a taste for the fine arts, which had long flourished in Italy, beginning to dawn upon France, the whimsical forms of Gothic architecture fell into disrepute. In 1549, Dominick Boccadoro, surnamed Cortona, an Italian architect, presented a new plan to Henry II. which was adopt ed; but the building proceeded slowly, and was not completed till the reign of Henry IV. in 1605, under the celebrated prévót François Miron. The architecture of the Hôtel de Ville presents nothing remarkable, except that it is one of the first buildings in Paris which displayed a return to regularity of forms, and a correct style of decoration. The flight of steps leading to the vestibule is grand; the vestibule is spacious, and the porticoes are very convenient. Their decorations, as well as the sculptures of the staircase, are admirably executed. Over the principal entrance, in the semicircular black marble pediment, was a bas-relief in bronze, by Biard, representing Henry IV. on horseback. This was torn down during the war de la Fronde, restored by the son of Biard, destroyed during the revolution, and renewed in plaster in 1814. The clock cost an immense sum. It is the work of Lepaute, and may be considered one of the best in Europe. At night it is lighted by a lampe parabolique, so that the hour may constantly be seen. The court is surrounded with porticoes, which support the building. Upon the marble frieze were inscriptions in golden letters, which marked the principal events in the life of Louis XIV. from his marriage, in 1659, to 1689. There were also inscriptions of the most striking events in the reign of Louis XV. The court was likewise ornamented with medallions representing portraits of the prévôts and the échevins. In this court is a bronze statue, by Coysevox, of Louis XIV. dressed à la Grecque, but with a court wig; it stands on a pedestal of white marble, which formerly was embellished with ornaments, and bore an inscription.

"If this edifice bears no proportion to the present extent and magnificence of Paris, we must consider that the city has been more than doubled in size and population since the middle of the sixteenth century; and luxury and magnificence have increased in a much greater proportion.

"The Hôtel de Ville was the theatre of violent disorders during the war de la Fronde, and also at the revolution. At the latter period its apartments, which contained many valuable paintings and ornaments, were stripped of every thing that could call to mind a monarchical government. The spirit of destruction which then reigned respected, however, the twelve months of the year, carved in wood, in one of the rooms near the grande salle. At this period it was called Maison Commune, and the busts of Marat and Chalier were placed in the grand hall. Destined afterwards to inferior uses, this edifice seemed devoted to oblivion, when, in 1801, the project was formed of establishing in it the prefecture of the department.

"The execution of this project led to the complete restoration of the Hôtel de Ville, which was effected under the direction of Molinos, with equal skill and celerity. The building was considerably enlarged; to effect which, the Hôpital and church du St. Esprit, and the church of St. Jean en Grève, were added. Upon the return of Louis XVIII. the emblems of the reigning dynasty were restored.

"The ground-floor of the church du St. Esprit is now transformed into a spacious vestibule, destined to receive the king when he visits the Hôtel de Ville; a grand staircase leads from it to the appartement d'honneur, formed out of the upper part of the church. The salle de Saint Jean, the only remains of the church dedicated to that Saint, presents a vast parallelogram, lighted from above, and decorated with twelve Corinthian columns, behind which is a gallery. This room was fitted up after the designs of F. Blondel, and is admired for the beauty of its proportions. It is appropriated to the drawing for the conscripts.

"The Grand Salle forms a banquetingroom, where civic festivals are given. It is hung with superb crimson velvet paper, ornamented with golden fleurs de lis, and surrounded by a rich border. The chairs, sofas, and curtains, are of crimson silk. Above the two chimneypieces are pictures of Louis XVI. and Louis XVIII. The latter was given by the king to the city, and is a masterpiece in resemblance and execution.

In no

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