my repraive the day afther I was hanged, and ped me a visit in the black cell, with tears in his eyes, and traison in his heart. Now, my boys, to your bushes. I'll be back in a giffy-sorrow long I'm iver about a job that my heart's in. Take off Sullivan's body to the kiln. Pace to his sowl!

[4 pause; the men take off their hats and cross themselves.]

Brian (in a low and feeling voice.)—We'll wake him to-night with his child. We may have more to carry with thim to th' abbey before our work is done.

THE slack-rope dancer at Vauxhall instead of playing at hanging himself, for the edification of the juveniles assembled at their fête on Thursday week, did the job effectually, and great applause was bestowed upon the close imitation of the agonies of death; but, performing the dead part too long, suspicions began to arise that the elegant recreation had terminated fatally; and the performer was cut down in time to be, with great difficulty, restored. Whose depravity of taste suggested the 'disgusting spectacle we know not, but we hope the presumptuous fool who ministered to it is cured.

The visiters at the British Museum, during the past month, amounted to thirty-five thousand.

The Literary Gazette amuses its readers, under the head of "Sights of London," with an account of the Lord Mayor's fête on board his barge at

"Twickenham," and of the ladies landing to have tea on the lawn of Sir Wathen Waller, "who, as a private friend of the Lord Mayor, added this new and unusual compliment," &c. &c. We will not speak of Sir Wathen's private friendship for the antiquated saddler, nor attempt to explain the difference between what is new and what is unusual; but we will affirm, that if the party desiring it be unexceptionable, Sir Wathen never denies the compliment: with the Lord Mayor's party it might be extraordinary.

A club is forming in the vicinity of Somerset House under the title of THE WESTERN CLUB, and it is expected to accomplish all the advantages of the principal clubs, at half the cost. The names are entered at Messrs. Coutts and Co., Bankers; and entrance until the 1st of September, only two guineas; between the 1st and the 29th, three guineas; and after that to be four guineas.

EVENING DRESS.

A dress of pink figured silk with satin stripes, the corsage is pointed in front. Pelerine of Chantilly blonde, with a double fall on the shoulders, and confined to the body by small pink bows, the last bow is rather larger, and has two very long ends; a bow with ends is placed on each shoulder. The hair is dressed with gold ears of wheat.

OPERA DRESS.

A dress of pompadour satin, richly figured in groups of natural flowers of the most brilliant hues on a black ground; a deep cape cut in three joints on the shoulders, and edged with fringe, covers the bust; sleeves of white crêpe aerophane, confined from the elbow to the wrist with gold-coloured ribbon interleaved. Hat of black velvet, with a plume of ostrich feathers.

THE flower which seems now the most important, and about which, so far as good properties are concerned, least is known, or rather least is published, is the dahlia; and it is one in which the leading general properties to constitute perfection must be very few, because the great variety of style, shape, and colour, belong to detail, and not to general properties. All growers will agree that,

1. The flower should be round, and this carries with it properties not worth making separate, namely, that the ends of the petals should be round, because the more round the ends of the petals are, the more round the flower, and that they should lay regular-pointed petals are, therefore, objectionable.

2. The crown should rise high, to give a richness to the bloom, and be close even to the centre-to show an eye is, in our opinion, fatal.

3. The colour should be brilliant, and whether plain, striped, or shaded, should be perfectly clear from all pouncy or dusty spots of colour.

4. The petals should be stiff and smooth, without a notch in the edge, and the back ones the largest, so that the whole of the flower should be seen to advantage on a front view.

It would, however, be idle to carry the general properties further, for scarcely two dahlias are alike in form of petal, even among the most esteemed flowers, instance Barrett's Susiana, Lady Grenville, Dennissii, Douglass's Augusta, King of Whites, Cambridge Surprise, Madona, Agrippina, Yellow Turban, Queen Bess, Countess of Liverpool, Widnel's Perfection, Inwood's Springfield Rival, &c., not two of which are alike in form, and hardly in style, yet all beautiful in their way; and if half-adozen judges should be asked their opinion as to which is the best form when the

flower is in its best state, they would probably all differ.

VOL. I.

Reflected petals are, in our opinion, only objectionable on one ground; that of half the beauty of the flower being hidden. But there is something to be said even for this, for it happens only in those flowers which throw out the succeeding petals to the full extent, and exhibit the bloom as large as their length will allow, and which, in fact, from their superabundance of petals, drive back those first out as the others expand: witness Douglass's Augusta, Countess of Liverpool, Barrett's Susiana, &c.; all which are extremely beautiful when well grown, and yet when in perfection and at their largest size, are nearly round.

In judging a stand of dahlias, the censors ought, in our opinion, to consider how many properties the stand could possess, apart from the quality of single flowers; for instance, variety and brilliance of colour ought always to stand for one; regularity of the flowers, two; freshness, three; perfection of form, four; size of flowers, five; and so forth. Because, suppose a stand of four to be fine large flowers and large sorts, say Cicero, Royal Lilac, Barrett's King, and the Negro-boy, and another four fine fresh blooms half the size, say Lady Grenville, Countess of Liverpool, Queen of Yellows, and Douglass's Augusta, and the blooms equally fresh, regular, and well grown, the properties, according to the above scale, would run thus: