I was amazed, dumbfounded by the fellow's lying intrepidity of face and tongue, which he observing, and blushing to observe-he was not entirely depraved, it seemed-blurted out, that a man might have strong moral courage, however weak in merely physical nerve. 'Yes, strong moral or immoral courage: I see that plainly enough.' The young humbug was but momently abashed, and evidently quite aware of the pleasure he was affording me, said jauntily: 'So confident are we all that the once interrupted ceremony will be definitively celebrated before another day has flown, that the ladies, my father tells me, have already arrived in Havre.' 'What ladies have arrived in Havre?' 'Madame de Bonneville and Mademoiselle Clémence, Madame Dupré and Miss Wilson. Immediately, therefore, this hateful jail-bondage is thrown off, I shall enter into that of wedlock, of which the fetters are Love's own sweet constraint.' 'Such sugar-plum stuff! I am almost tempted to believe I am talking to a girl in sex as well as heart.' The only excuse I can offer for this unbecoming outburst is the fellow's ill-glozed, mocking taunts, which his mere words fail to convey an adequate idea of. 'Something I am not aware of must have occurred to vex you,' resumed the simpering rascal, who was not at all put out or ruffled by my rudeness. Ah, my dear Linwood, I only wish for your sake that a like happiness to that which awaits my acceptance' 'Two ladies,' interrupted one of the prison officers, throwing wide the door-'two ladies, with permission to see Monsieur Webbe, Englishman.' I leaped aside into a recess, and the next moment in glided the bright presence of Maria Wilson. Harry Webbe sprang forward with outstretched arms to meet her, and she refused not his impassioned embrace. How could she, I afterwards argued with myself, he being her almost husband, and in bonds; notwithstanding, however, which palliative consideration, I have ever since taken credit to myself for not having forthwith murdered the fellow with the heavy iron candlestick upon which my fingers closed with homicidal force. Madame Dupré, who closely followed Miss Wilson, caught sight of me, and imagining I was a partner in Harry Webbe's cell-domicile, acknowledged me by a friendly nod, followed by a slight scream as I rushed past her into the corridor-thence to the quadrangle-anywhere to escape from those poniard-like caresses, vows, kisses, tears! The Bourbon flag was still flying from the tower of St Thomas's Church-a great fact, to which my attention was directed by one of the prisoners, who must have supposed I had not before observed it-a courtesy which I repaid by a coarse malediction upon flag and Bourbons both. Like Mr Dickens's vivacious Fanny, I was just then violently wishing myself dead a state of mind not at all conducive to political enthusiasm. After a dozen or two furious turns up and down the yard, I bethought me of Sicard, and not seeing him, made for our cell, passing the open door of Webbe's with hasty strides and averted glance, though it was impossible to altogether avoid hearing that the lovers were cooing and billing, laughing and weeping, all in a breath. I-I am a Frenchman-you-you know to the ends of-of my nails; but some-somehow there is something in tears-the-the tears of a charming, amiable maiden, which-which melts the stoutest heart! That is positive, demonstrable!' "You here!' I thundered, addressing the Frenchwoman, from whom I had not turned my eyes; how dare you shew yourself here, Louise Féron?' 'How dare I shew myself here, Mr William Linwood!' retorted the virago. Well, I dare, that's all! Ay, and I shall dare much more than that, young man, if I find it useful or expedient to do so. Be advised by me-- Ah, mesdames, you are going!-our time must then be also expired. Come, Clémence!' 'Hélas!' spouted Harry Webbe, who had entered the cell with Madame Dupré and Miss Wilson'Pleasures are like poppies spread, You seize the flower, its bloom is shed; A moment white-then melts for ever. The measured tramp of armed men approaching along the stone corridor arrested his heroics, and took the colour out of his cheeks. Halte!' exclaimed a hectoring voice of command just without: the door was flung open, and at the entrance gleamed the bayonets of a company of grenadiers. The commanding officer stepped forward, bowed slightly to the ladies, and requested the sergent de ville and chief jailer, by whom he was accompanied, to point out his prisoners. "They all three happen to be here,' replied the sergent de ville. 'Harry Webbe, Englishman,' he continued, reading from a paper, and placing his hand upon Webbe's arm, 'capitally charged with breach of his parole; William Linwood, capitally charged with aiding the escape of said Harry Webbe, and further, with having travelled in France under the assumed names of Jean Le Gros and Louis Piron; Jacques Sicard, Frenchman, charged with having furnished said William Linwood with a false passport, and aiding his escape from justice." You have them all three, Capitaine Dubourg.' 'What is the meaning of this?' exclaimed Madame de Bonneville. 'What are you going to do with these young men, Monsieur le Capitaine?' 'My duty, madame,' replied the officer, 'is to conduct them before a court-martial now sitting, by whose sentence they will be either shot or liberated within a couple of hours at furthest.' THE MONTH: SCIENCE AND ARTS. THAT Sociology is a science worth studying, may now be accepted as a truth, after the well-deserved recognition it has had in the social conference at Birmingham. Was anything significant meant in selecting the town that makes all the muskets and bayonets for a demonstration eminently favourable to peace, hostile only to social evils? Birmingham has already made attempts, after its manner, towards the solution of some social problems. Seven thousand of its artisans are members of building societies; and a number more are about to purchase Aston Park, containing a fine old Tudor mansion, about three miles from the town, to be used as a people's park. Truly they have need of it in a place so befouled by smoke! The Mechanics' Institute, which did not flourish, has been replaced by a Midland Institute-an architectural ornament to the town-the scheme of which, as its promoters believe, involves a I was de trop again! Jacques Sicard and Mademoiselle Clémence were sighing, sobbing, and embracing each other under the gaunt sanction of a tall, large-boned, fierce-eyed Frenchwoman. Clémence jumped up, blushing and confused; and Maître Sicard, vainly striving to brace his voice up to a manly firmness, brokenly, huskily exclaimed: Ex-principle of real vitality. excuse this weak-weakness, Monsieur Linwood: Among noticeable items of things social, we find from a recently published report, that in 1856 the visitors to Hampton Court numbered 161,764; and to Kew Gardens, 344,140.-A Normal School of Design is opened at the South Kensington Museum; and from the same establishment framed boards, striped with a series of colours, have been sent to various public institutions in the metropolis and elsewhere, to test the effect of the atmosphere on coloured surfaces. One half of each board is glazed, and will consequently be affected by light only, while the other will exhibit the combined influence of light and air. Periodical observations of the several boards will be taken.-The evening classes at King's College are re-opened; and at the Working Men's College, where Rev. F. D. Maurice is still the principal. Observe, too, government are willing to allow two working-men, students of this college, to compete in the civil service examinations. The designs for subways, one of the subjects which our Metropolitan Board of Works have had under consideration, are on show at the Society of Arts. These subways are underground passages or tunnels along the streets, intended to receive all the gas and water pipes and telegraph wires, and give access to sewers, without disturbing the surface of the street-a frightful inconvenience in our busy thoroughfares. Some of the plans are highly ingenious, and embody a system of ventilation by means of existing chimneys. Now that the Times has had a leader on the scheme, we may hope that something will come of it.-Endeavours for the public welfare do indeed advance, notwithstanding the 'stringency' in the money-market and disturbance of trade: Halifax has scarcely got used to the novelty and pleasure of a people's park, ere Blackburn is put in possession of a similar enjoyment; and Wolverhampton, half-stifled by the smoke of the 'black country,' has started a Working Men's College, with fair promise of success. -And last, shewing what women can do when they have a mind, female clubs against celibacy have been formed in Var and Gironde on the other side of the Channel. Two hundred members constitute a club; they pay an annual subscription of ten francs each, which provides a sufficient dowry for the happy few who may be married within the year. With such an unequivocal allurement, they all in time get hus. bands; and to keep the club going, they continue their subscriptions for ten years after marriage. to the nitrate, after which the negative is laid on, and watched till a satisfactory impression appears, and this having been fixed, the block is ready for the engraver. This power of reproducing the images of objects implies, as is obvious, the most desirable accuracy of representation. And besides these we hear of transparent enamel photographs, of which the picture is preserved by enclosure between two plates of glass. Nothing shews better the popular appreciation of the photographic art than the success of the Architectural Photographic Association, which, set on foot last May, now numbers six hundred members. As their name indicates, they occupy themselves with taking pictures of buildings, and at times, of engineering works, for which purpose the art is peculiarly valuable. What the Association have already accomplished may be seen in many print-shops: views of the principal public and private edifices from all parts of Europe, and now we are told there is a certainty of the operations being extended into India, China, and other countries of Asia.' Photography is used, too, by surgeons to preserve the history of a 'case' by a series of pictures which shew the course of the disease or the cure. The Manchester Exhibition having been closed at the time appointed, a meeting has been held to decide what shall be done with the building. The question was left unsettled. We are glad to learn that, so far as can be at present ascertained, no loss will fall on the promoters of the great experiment-for experiment it was. The Exhibition was open 142 days, during which time it was entered by 1,053,538 paying visitors. The receipts from all sources amounted to L.98,500; the expenses will hardly be less than L.100,000; but the sale of the building and fittings will bring a considerable sum to the credit side. The total of visitors is not so great as was anticipated; this, however, is a result which may be looked at from the circumstantial as well as from the sanguine point of view. We say it advisedly, that the great mass of our working-classes lack that necessary amount of previous cultivation which would enable them to understand and enjoy such a collection of historical portraits-to say nothing of other works of art-as was exhibited at Manchester. And we should not greatly err if we included a majority of those who claim to rank above the workingclasses in the same category. We are of those who hold that the world will not go one jot the faster for being driven, and that education has much to do before the time shall be ripe for the influence of pictures. Meanwhile, we record that a statue has been erected to Madame de Sevigné at Grignan; to the poet Moore in Edinburgh, to the second Viscount Melville; and one on horseback to Lord Hardinge, in the court-yard of Burlington House. This is about as congruous a situation for a warrior, as the front of the Horse Guards would be for a statue of Sir Humphry Davy. Luckily, the equestrian figure is only to remain within the precincts of learning and science for three months, to be a sight for the Londoners, before it is shipped to its ultimate destination-Calcutta. The decimal-coinage question is not forgotten: another move in favour of it is to be made in the approaching session of parliament.-The dingy old museum at St Bartholomew's Hospital has been renovated by Mr Owen Jones, and now the visitor or student walks through a cheerful and elegant-Tom Moore-at Dublin; one in bronze by Steell, apartment with facilities for examination heretofore impossible. On the other hand, the hospital sustains a loss in consequence of Dr Stenhouse being obliged to resign the professorship of chemistry through ill health; his place is supplied by Dr Frankland from Owen's College at Manchester, a gentleman whose reputation ranks high among chemists.-The Photographic Society having taken to themselves a local habitation-they achieved a name some time ago opened their session in their new rooms, in Coventry Street, which will serve for meetings, and for their public exhibitions. The society flourishes, and so does their art. Black leather is now used for photographs: by what is called the vitro-heliographic process,' pictures are taken on slabs of porcelain; and the sun is now made to supersede the draughtsman in preparing wood-blocks for the engraver. The block is first wetted with a solution of alum, and dried; then with a camel-hair brush is washed all over with a glue composed of soap, gelatine, and a solution of alum, which keeps the wood firm and free from damp. The surface for the image is then placed for a few minutes in a solution of chlorhydrate of ammonia, and exposed Mr Alvan Clark of Boston, United States, has made a discovery highly interesting to astronomers: it is, that certain stars in some of the northern constellations which have hitherto been regarded as single, are, in fact, double; and it brings matter to that important question respecting the changes stars undergo which are perceptible only after the lapse of years. Struve of Pulkowa, whose survey of the heavens is well known, did not observe the stars here in question as double when he was constructing his stellar charts.-Of discovering little planets there is no end; we are now at the fortyninth, to which the French astronomers have given the name of Pales; the forty-fifth is Eugenia, in honour of the empress. Will the emperor bestow his name on the fiftieth? or are globes not bigger than Paris too small for his ambition?-Photography is to aid astronomy yet further, and with a view to initiate a method of determining the positions and magnitudes, the Society of Sciences at Haarlem have offered a prize for the best photographs of stars. Whether Mr Bond of Cambridge, Massachusetts, will gain the prize, we know not; but he succeeded so well some months ago in photographing portions of the heavens, that the angles between the stars could be measured on the plate. Professor Wolf, of Berne, is about to publish tables of observations of the solar spots made in Italy and Germany during the last century, as he is satisfied that they confirm his views as to the periodical recurrence of those spots within definite terms of years.-Mr Porro, the skilful optician, has invented a telescope, or helioscope, which has no dark glasses, and in which the glare and heat are so effectually neutralised, that observations can be carried on without annoyance to the gazer's eye. Seen through this instrument, the spots on the sun resemble bare patches of ground in a great field of snow.-Hansen of Seeberg is one of the most renowned astronomers of Europe; his Lunar Tables, the result of long years of careful observation, have just been published, at the cost of our own government, in a large quarto volume, copies of which, under direction of the astronomer-royal, have been presented to observatories in all parts of the world. Herein science is benefited, and praise should not be withheld from those to whom it is due. Already, the Tables have proved of good account, Mr Airy having, by means of them, settled a question which has long baffled astronomers-namely, the exact date of the eclipse which took place on the day of the battle of Larissa. It was May 19, 556 B.C. This may seem a dry question; it is, nevertheless, as the astronomer-royal says, 'valuable, not merely for its chronological utility, but also for its accurate determination of an astronomical epoch.' Some further advances have been made towards utilising the electric light. M. Legrand, engineer of the French light-house board, recently threw a beam of electric light from the heights at Chaillot into the Champ de Mars at Paris, the illuminating effect of which was regarded as successful. The essential difficulty which has hitherto attended the use of carbon points, is said to be overcome in the new apparatus, in which mercury is substituted for charcoal. Messrs Schuessel and Thouret of Berlin are exhibiting their new 'fire-preventive,' which is of such a nature that it protects alike the solidest and lightest of combustible substances. Small tables and other articles of furniture painted with it may be put into a large wood-fire for ten minutes, and suffer no hurt, the article being only partly carbonised where actually touched by the fire.' Wooden shavings,' say the inventors, prepared with our secret, being thrown upon a brisk fire, will not catch fire.' Sheets of paper will burn only where left uncoated; muslin, linen, woollens, the materials of curtains and bedding, cannot be made to propagate fire if but once rendered proof by the preventive. The substance, they say, is cheap, and it may be applied to articles mixed with the colour during the process of dyeing, or with starch during that of washing.' The appearance of wood prepared with it is not altered, nor has it any unpleasant smell. Paper that will bear printing on without the usual preliminary wetting, has long been a desideratum; and we hear that such a kind of paper has not only been made, but that it has been worked up into printed books, and published. Printers of all degrees will rejoice when it becomes as available as the ordinary sorts of paper. The Cyclops has sailed to aid in laying down the Red Sea telegraph.-Sir Charles Lyell is paying a geological visit of inquiry to Vesuvius: it might be worth his while, on the way home, to examine the deposits of coal and iron-ore which have lately been discovered at the foot of the Apennines.-Mr Henwood, whose mining surveys we have at times noticed, has lately returned from a survey of the Chanarcillo mines in Chili, and with valuable information for the Geological Society of Cornwall. His labours have thus taken him, in the space of twenty-three months, to the Himalayas, the Andes, to the Pyramids, and Niagara. -The use of sulphur to check the vine-disease in Portugal, has been found to protect the grapes at the expense of the wine, to which the mineral imparts a disagreeable flavour.-M. Trécul, in a communication made to the Académie, on the Circulation in Plants, shews that it is the circulation which produces the vessels; in other words, that it is the function which creates the organ.'-A suggestion has been made that the horse-chestnut, being now in demand for commercial purposes, rows of horse-chestnut trees might be planted with profit in the rural districts, by the roadsides, and in avenues across commons. But the best farmers say that we have too many trees already, and macadamisers dislike too much shelter for the roads. Orchards, it is said, might also be formed on the slopes of railway-cuttings-a question for the constructors to decide. Some years ago we mentioned that strawberrybeds would be likely to succeed on the slopes; and travellers on the Great Western may now see strawberries growing in certain places on the sunny side of the line.-M. Brown-Séquard, a distinguished physiologist, whose name has more than once been brought before readers of the Journal, has demonstrated the view originally put forth by Haller, that the irritability of the muscular system is independent of the nervous system-able to act without the co-operation of the nerves. He has now, he believes, established the fact, that the irritability depends on the action of the blood, rich in oxygen, upon the contractile organs' of the muscular system. Alas for the hopes of bell-founders, clockmakers, and campanologists! Big Ben is cracked, and just as the quarter-bells were all cast and ready to hang. We hope the accident is not ominous. On the other hand, the great gun, or monster mortar, as some call it, has been tried with astonishing results in Woolwich marshes. A charge of 100 pounds of powder sent the ponderous 36-inch shell 2250 yards; and with 150 pounds it flew roaring far beyond the butt, and buried itself deep in the earth.-A patent process for blasting rocks by heat is announced: holes are bored in the rock, and then filled with a composition which splits the solid mass, not by explosion, but by the generation of a sudden and intense heat.-Accounts from Canada state that the works of the great Victoria Bridge at Montreal are advancing favourably; and that the booking of emigrants through from England to the west at one charge is quite successful. THE LOST DIAMONDS. I POSSESSED some valuable diamonds which had been unset, and, as I was on a visit to Paris, I thought I would have them re-set. A friend-an old, dear, and valued friend-accompanied me to a jeweller's to make inquiries as to what would be the cost. The tradesman, after examining them carefully, pronounced them to be of great value, and said the cheapest form of setting would come to about thirty pounds. We did not, at the moment, decide about it, and as, shortly afterwards, business compelled me to leave Paris, I deferred the arrangement of my diamonds till my return. Just before I came away, I changed my maid-an Englishwoman-for a French femme de chambre, the former having matrimonial designs; and, consequently, not being quite willing to trust the stranger, I undertook to pack my jewels, &c., myself. For this purpose, I had my jewel-case and desk brought to the drawing-room, and began arranging my ornaments and papers. Whilst I was thus occupied, two gentlemen called successively; the latter being Dr S, the friend who had accompanied me to the jeweller's. During the time I chatted with him, I took out the diamonds, wrapped them in white paper, tied them with narrow ribbon, and sealed the tiny packet with green wax. I then placed it in a small box, and put it into my jewel-case. At that very moment my maid asked if she could speak with me, and excusing myself to Dr S-, I left him; never, of course, dreaming of locking up my half-packed jewels. 'By the bye, Dr S, when do you intend to let me have my diamonds? You have carried on the jest quite long enough now, and given me a severe fright.' He turned deadly pale; there was no mistaking his change of countenance. 'Your diamonds, Mrs ; I don't know what you mean !' 'Why, you know you took them the night I was packing up-for a jest, of course-but it is really time to end it now. I know it was you who did it.' 'From a mesmerist, I suppose,' said he, but without expressing the least indignation at the charge. 'Really some day you will go mad about mesmerism!' I confessed that I had been to Alexis. 'Well,' said he calmly, 'I shall go to him also.' A few days afterwards he called on me, producing a written paper from Alexis, declaring that he did not mean Dr S by his description. I became indignant: Again he grew deadly pale, and repeated: 'I did not take them.' I was absent a few moments, and found everything, apparently, as I had left it. I finished my packing, and the jewels remained in their hiding-places till I had reached, and been some days in London. Then 'You have bribed him to give it you!' I exclaimed. the wish to have the diamonds re-set returned, and II also have again visited Alexis, and was reproached went to seek them, in order to take them to Roundell by him and the mesmerist for exposing them to a and Bridges. I opened the case, lifted off the lid of judicial trial for what they had told me. I believe the small box, and found the diamonds gone! I you have the diamonds; I insist on your returning searched every other box in the case, hoping I had them.' mistaken their whereabout, but no-the diamonds were lost. I need not say how grieved and puzzled I was, and how inexplicable the loss appeared. No suspicion, however, of the only person present at their packing distressed me; I should as soon have suspected my nearest and dearest relative. Some time elapsed ere I again found myself in Paris; and then, from all sides, I heard the fame of Alexis, the subject' whose trance-powers approached the miraculous. A strong desire and curiosity awoke in my mind to ask him if he could, in his clairvoyant state, give me any tidings of my lost jewels. I must mention here, that shortly after my return to Paris, I had received my former waiting-woman back again, and that I now made her accompany me to Alexis's house. We were received with great civility by the mesmerist, who, having thrown his 'subject' into a sleep, desired me to place my hand in his, and ask him any question I chose. I obeyed, saying simply: "Why do I come to you?' 'Madame a perdue quelque chose.' "What is it?' I was very angry. If he had resented such an accusation; if he had been violently angry with me, or very indignant, I should have believed him innocent; but that pale, troubled face, those calm, meek denials! I rang the bell. Shew Dr S- out.' And turning from him indignantly, I left the room. Of course, we met no more. Years rolled on. I thought I had lost both my friend and my diamonds. We were again in London. One morning my husband wanted something I had in my dressing-case. I carried it into his dressing-room, seated myself, and began looking for it. At length I opened the little box, memorable for having held the small white paper parcel. My husband will tell you that the next moment I startled him by a cry. 'What is the matter, Emily ?' 'Oh!' I gasped, the diamonds-the diamonds!' Yes, there they were: they had never left their first hiding-place. It happened thus: The box had a deep lid, the green wax was still wet when I shut it down; it adhered to the lid, and remained there. Ah, je vois! A little packet it is of white paper, Every time before, when I had removed the lid, I had tied with ribbon, and with a green seal.' I was startled. "What is his name?' I asked breathlessly. 'His Christian name is the same as my own. see no more.' I can Alexander was my friend's name; the clairvoyant, Alexis. Need I say I left the mesmerist's, after paying my napoleon, fully assured of the culpability of my former friend. But what could have induced such a man to rob me? Some dire temptation it must have been. I would give him every opportunity of retrieving his error, but at the same time I would recover my lost diamonds. The opportunity for speaking to him occurred very shortly. We met a few days afterwards. Assuming a jesting air, I laughed, and said: put it down as I took it off-the top upwards. Now, 'I am so glad. Shall I see him?' 'No. I told him you were coming, and he said he would dine at the club, for that you would not sit in the same room with him.' 'Did he tell you why he thought so?' The meek, generous-hearted man had never even hinted at the cruel injustice I had done him. As soon as I returned home, I wrote him the most penitent of notes-and was forgiven. Thus I recovered both my friend and my diamonds; but I have never quite forgiven mesmerism for the pain it caused me; nor can I to this day explain by what unaccountable means Alexis was able to tell all about my loss, and yet to be so grievously far off the truth. I must add, that I went to a juge about the diamonds, and he would have given me a writ on Dr S-, but old friendship prevented me from exposing him in any way. How rejoiced I was that I had not done so! VULGAR ERRORS IN LAW. Verbal and written guarantee.-It is commonly believed that if a man accompanies his friend to a shop, and passes his word for the debt he may there contract, the guarantee is good in law. But this is a mistake: the purchaser is the person to whom credit is given, and the other can take the debt upon himself only by means of a written promise. Tender in payment.-If you offer to a creditor what you conceive to be the just amount of your debt, you think you have made a legal tender; but that depends upon your discretion in making it. If you clog the offer with any condition, even the stipulation for a receipt in full, it is invalid: a legal tender, to be good, must be entirely unconditional. Copper and silver as tenders.-Various good stories are told of revengeful debtors tendering in copper money the sums they were compelled to pay, and at so critical an hour of the day that their busy creditors would almost rather have done without. But this is all fudge. Copper coin is not a legal tender when the debt is of an amount that can be paid in silver or gold; and even silver is not legal to the amount of more than forty shillings. Bank of England notes are as good a tender as gold; but they again are convertible on demand at the Bank into gold at the mint price. Civil liability of drunkards.—We all know that offences against the person are held to be aggravated rather than otherwise by their being committed under the influence of intoxication; but it is less known that a drunkard is securely bound by his written deeds. The signature of a drunken man is vitiated only when the drunkenness was produced by the contrivance of those to whom the bond was given, or when the intoxication went the length of depriving him entirely of reason. Plants belong to the ground.-When you give up your occupation of a garden, and do not choose that the trees and shrubs you have planted should become the property of the landlord, you are tempted to cut them down if you cannot remove them. Don't; or you will subject yourself to an action at law. Leave your own flowers, too, and your own box-borders, or else prepare to stand the consequences of a contravention of the law. Ladies, mind what you are about !-A lady thinks her property is her own till the marriage-knot is tied: but she is mistaken. From the moment she has accepted the offer of marriage, everything she possesses, or is to possess in reversion, becomes the property of her intended; and no deed involving its transfer, executed by her in the interval before marriage, is valid. The reason is that the intended covenanted for herself and her havings at the moment of the engagement, and she has no right to disappoint him.-These items are condensed from Mr Timbs's Popular Errors Explained, and serve as a specimen of the useful and sometimes curious information to be found in the book. It may be well to remark that, being matters of English law, they are not necessarily applicable to Scotland. POSTAGE ENVELOPES. M. Piron tells us that the idea of a post-paid envelope originated early in the reign of Louis XIV. with M. de Velayer, who in 1658 established (with royal approbation) a private penny-post, placing boxes at the corners of streets for the reception of letters wrapped up in envelopes, which were to be bought at offices established for that purpose. M. de Velayer also caused to be printed certain forms of billets or notes, applicable to the ordinary business among the inhabitants of great towns, with blanks, which were to be filled up by the pen with such special matter as might complete the writer's object. Pelisson, Madame de Sevigné's friend, and the object of the bonmot |