There was rather a sharp breeze sweeping along the strand-road; and Mick, a martyr to his own discovery, was fain to keep his hand on the top of the tumbler, until the sensation of burning becoming intolerable, he used to remove the aggrieved member for a moment, and shake it well. We could hear him, at the same time, mutter sotto voce: Bad luck to it!-'tis more throuble than the lantern, afther all!' At length we reached our friend's house in safety, guided, as her son remarked, 'by a Will-o'-the-Wisp, if not by a Jack-o'-the-Lantern.' Mrs Bennett returned with us that night, her homeward path lying in the same direction as ours. The wind had gone down and the moon risen, and very calm and beautiful was the scene around. On one side were fields and groves stretching down to the road; on the other, the gently plashing tide washed the low parapet-wall which bounded the footpath. Not a human being did we see during our walk. Mick kept close behind us, ostensibly in dutiful attendance, but really because he was fully persuaded that the road was 'airy'—that is, haunted by ghosts; and nothing, I suppose, would have induced him to travel it alone. 'What a lovely night, Mrs Bennett,' I said. 'I am sure, only for the sake of appearances, we do not want a servant, or any one else, to protect us.' 'No, indeed. Angelina and I often walk here until it is quite late, and we never met any one to speak to, except one night, when a poor, civil, drunken man asked us to allow him to walk along with us, in order to prevent the police from arresting him.' And did you consent, Mrs Bennett ?' I asked, with some curiosity; for although I knew her and her sister to be about the most good-natured women in Ballygarriffe, I really scarcely thought their kindness of heart would carry them that length. To be sure we did; and he walked along with us quite civilly, until we got to our own door; only saying now and then: "Do you think, ma'am, the police will take me up?" And we used to say: "O no; make your mind easy, we'll protect you!" So he thanked us, and got into the ferry-boat, and I hope the men in it took good care of him, and did not let him fall overboard.' 'Good-night, Mrs Bennett,' I said, cordially pressing her hand; 'I'm glad we did not meet any drunken men, whether civil or uncivil, to-night.' It was duly announced one day in Ballygarriffe that Miss Saunders was going to give a large party, a real undeniable ball; and in order to furnish the necessary quota of partners for the young ladies, our village contingent being quite inadequate, and the demand far exceeding the supply, the hostess was obliged to have recourse to the nearest garrison-town. The officers then stationed there were all English, and being quite fresh arrivals, they knew nothing whatever of our village or its society; but finding their quarters extremely dull, they were delighted to accept Miss Saunders's invitation; and, accordingly, five gay military heroes made their appearance at the appointed time. for some means of whiling away the time; and his attention being attracted by a basket of visiting-cards lying on the table, he began to turn them over, without, however, deriving much amusement from the mere perusal of a set of well-known names. Raising his eyes from this profitless employment, he happened to glance at the opposite wall, where the officers' greatcoats were hanging in a row; and a bright idea struck him. We know, on good Dr Watts's authority, who it is that finds some mischief still for idle hands to do;' and assuredly the inspiration seemed not wanting on the present occasion. Hastily selecting a number of ladies' cards, appertaining to our single as well as our married notabilities, he stuffed them promiscuously into the pockets of the greatcoats; and then, in a calm and complacent frame of mind, accompanied his wife and sister into the reception-room. A pleasant, merry party it was: the rooms certainly were scarcely large enough for the amount of polking required to fit into them; and the consequent collisions, or 'collusions,' as an old friend of mine always says, were neither few nor noiseless. 'Young Waters trod on my toes,' said Mr Digby, 'but paid him off in the next polka, for I gave him a blow of Georgiana Wilson, which sent him spinning across the room.' The probably unpleasant effect resulting to the young lady, of being thus made useful in the novel character of an offensive weapon, never seemed to trouble her chivalrous partner. 'Ah!' observed one of the officers, a remarkably tall, stout, and awkward-looking son of Mars, as he endeavoured, with an assumption of languid grace, to walk through a quadrille with a smart, espiègle, brighteyed little damsel-Ah, they might as well ask a man to waltz round a washing-basin, as to daunce in such a room as this!' 'Certainly,' was the reply-and the rosy lips that uttered it scarcely reached the hero's massy shoulder -'even the ocean, you know, appears small when Leviathan taketh his pastime therein.' Thanks to the extremely compressed dimensions of the quadrille, this retort of little Miss Davies was heard by every one engaged in it; and the captain was ever afterwards known at mess by the sobriquet of 'Leviathan.' There was a capital supper; plenty of good things were eaten, and plenty of good things were said during its progress. And then came more dancing, and the mirth grew fast and furious; nor was it until long after daybreak that the young ladies and the officers found themselves restored to their respective quarters. It was rather late the following day when the military gentlemen discovered the fair ones' cards lying snugly concealed in their pockets. A council of war, or rather of courtesy, was held, and it was decided nem. con., that it must be the custom among the wild Irish, when they wish to make the acquaintance of strangers, for the ladies to take the initiative after this singular fashion. 'Hang it, there were some smart, pretty girls among them,' said one gay lieutenant; and I vote we go down in the next train, and pay a round of visits at Ballygarriffe. It would be a pity to disappoint the dear creatures.' The proposition was carried by acclamation; the ladies both young and elderly, quite innocent of foregone conclusions, were charmed with the affable small-talk of their military visitors. Walking-parties, boatingparties, dinners, and picnics, were speedily organised; papas, husbands, and brothers amiably consenting to leave their cards at the barracks; and an inordinate quantity of flirtation was of course the natural and necessary result. It happened that amongst the native guests invited were Mr Taylor, his wife and sister; and it so chanced that they arrived rather fashionably late, some time after the officers had made their appearance. Having, according to our primitive custom, walked from their home, the two ladies were shewn up-stairs by their hostess's neat maid, in order to have an opportunity of bestowing a little mutual adjustment on their coiffures. And this process proving of somewhat a lengthy nature, Mr Taylor was left far longer than he approved of, to Two bona fide matches also, which, I am happy to stand in the hall and await, with what patience he say, are likely to turn out very well, trace their origin might, the tardy descent of his fair womankind. Being to Mr Taylor's idle five minutes in Miss Saunders's naturally of an active disposition, he looked around | hall; and I have just heard of a third as on the tapis. Little Miss Davies has actually determined to tempt the perilous ocean of matrimony in company with Leviathan, who, she thinks, likely to prove a better partner for life than he did in that memorable quadrille. THE MONTH: BEFORE this goes before the public, the launch of the Great Eastern or Leviathan will probably have been accomplished. The disappointment in the first attempts was the greater, that the company are in want of money, and hoped to raise L.100,000 on mortgage of the big ship, when once she should be in the water. The delay revived the question as to the economy of such a monster. Certain shrewd shipowners say that 1500 tons is the largest size that pays, and they ask sagaciously, whether any government will risk ten thousand troops at once in one vessel? Only let the Leviathan take her plunge, and these and other interesting questions will be answered. Nothing came of the electric light, which we were told was to be used on the same occasion. It has been tried, however, a few miles higher up the Thames, to light the workmen employed on the new Westminster Bridge, and with a result which appears fatally objectionable. Its intensity produces shadows so very black, that the workmen were continually betrayed in their movements, and fell off the stages into the water. Something yet remains to be done to make the electric light practically available: for operations under water it answers well. Some years ago we noticed a series of promising electrical experiments made by Mr Baggs at the Polytechnic Institution; and we are glad to find that he continued his researches. He has now a scheme for accelerating the transmission of messages by the electric telegraph-a useless scheme, as some will think. But although the signals fly fast enough along the wire, the manipulation by which they are produced is comparatively slow. A clerk cannot by any possibility spell more than a certain number of words in a minute, and Mr Baggs purposes to get over the inconvenience by employing steam. He takes a band of gutta-percha which is pierced with holes; into these holes, pins are inserted, which represent the message, and the bands being set in motion by the steam-engine, the pins make contact in passing with the signal apparatus, and thus deliver the message to the wire with all desirable rapidity. This application of power to telegraphy, if it can be realised in practice, involves important consequences, especially with a sub-Atlantic cable in prospect, and the under-sea lines to the Levant. It may be necessary to remind our readers that Mr Baggs employs frictional and not galvanic electricity, finding it better suited to the required work.-The lines of telegraph across the Mediterranean are coming into operation, and Paris has been brought into communication with Africa. The first messages were sent from Algiers to Bon; thence by way of Sardinia, Corsica, Spezzia, Piedmont, Savoy, Chambéry to Marseille. The Institution of Civil Engineers opened their session with papers on practical subjects: On Lighting Mines by Gas,' for example, the importance of which may be inferred from the fact that the estimated cost of the oil and tallow burnt in the mines of England is L.500,000 a year. In one of the Cornish mines the expense is L.7000; and taking the two counties, Devon and Cornwall, it amounts to L.90,000 per annum; and all the while the light is imperfect, and the effect on the air of the mine highly deleterious. Mr Wright, the author of the paper, described an experiment made at Balleswidden Mine, which proved entirely successful. Gas was forced by pressure down the shaft a depth of 780 feet-and all the ladders and workings were lighted, to the satisfaction of all concerned. The annual cost of candles had been L.834: of gas, it was not more than L.487; and, besides, the ventilation was better, there was an entire absence of the sickening smoke and bad odour previously pervading the mine, arising probably from some particular compounds of hydrogen and carbon, given off during the imperfect combustion of the candles.' Indeed, the introduction of gas appears to be advantageous in every respect; and although there is no risk of explosion in the Cornish mines, Mr Wright sees no reason why the system should not be extended to mines generally, and under certain precautionary measures, to coal-mines.' Mr Peter Barlow is busy with the subject he brought before the British Association at Dublin, 'On the Mechanical Effect of Girders and Suspensionchains; he demonstrates by reasoning, and seeks to do so by experiment, that the most economical bearer of a railway bridge is a suspended iron girder. He proves, what Mr Fairbairn admits, that the Britannia Bridge over the Menai is five times as heavy as it ought to be, and might have been with perfect safety. The people at Montreal might perhaps save a million or two of dollars were they to adopt Mr Barlow's method.-But of all the projects recently initiated or revived, those for effecting railway communication direct between France and England are the most astonishing. M. de Gamond proposes a tunnel to run under the bed of the Channel, with shafts rising at intervals as towers above the water, to insure ventilation; and an artificial island to be formed midway, as a convenient station and universal port. He has published a quarto volume, with map and plans on the for building a bridge, to rest on great piers erected subject. An English engineer, on the other hand, is at intervals of about 500 feet all across from Dover cliffs to Cape Grisnez. We mention these schemes as characteristics of the age; not that we think them likely to be carried out, or that it would be desirable to attempt by any such means to abolish the 'narrow seas.' Less magnificent, but more useful, is the proposal-which at last seems to be made in earnest-to along some of our principal metropolitan thoroughfares. get parliamentary sanction for omnibus-tramways | When the calculating-machine, invented by Mr Scheutz of Stockholm, was exhibited at Somerset House and in other places, we more than once drew attention to its merits. We rejoice for the inventors' sakes-father and son-to hear that our government have bespoken one of their machines for the use of the registrar-general. That useful and industrious functionary will employ it to calculate the tables, and arrive at the data which add so materially to the value of his periodical Reports. Another kind of machine, talked about by Mr Mechi, at an agricultural meeting in Essex, seems to foretoken a marked change in the cultivation of farms. It is described as an implement combining a railway, adapted for agricultural purposes, patented by Mr Halkett, by which he promises to plough land at 1s. 7d. the acre; hoe it at 1s. ad.; get in the harvest at 1s. the acre; and carry the manure, &c., of the farm at 1d. per ton per mile." If all this can be realised, it will be interesting to watch the effect of such an implement on the condition of the rural labourers. Mr Wyatt Papworth's paper, read at the Institute of British Architects, entitled An Attempt to determine the Periods, in England, when Fir, Deal, and House Painting were First Introduced,' is worth attention, and as likely to be acceptable to the general reader as to the profession. Mr Papworth shews that deal boards were imported from Norway at the early date of 1272. In Elizabeth's reign, fir was largely used; hence it is a popular error to believe that our ancient houses were built exclusively of oak timber. Painting of woodI work begins to be mentioned in the thirteenth century; but in that and the fourteenth, whitewash was the favourite mask of walls inside as well as outside the house; and in London, the thatch even was whitened-perhaps as protection against fire. Mr Papworth concludes his paper with some excellent practical remarks on house-painting, which explain wherein consists the difference between good work and bad work, and reveals some of the tricks of the trade; but as this is a part of the subject we have heretofore noticed, further mention of it here may be dispensed with. commendable practice of ignoring nationalities, and of seeking only to encourage science in the award of their honourable distinctions. Dr Livingstone has set off on his return to Africa, rich in fame and fortune, but not beyond his deserts. We hear that the sale of his book has produced him not less a sum than L.5000. He goes first to Lisbon, to confer with the Portuguese government on the question he has so much at heart; and in the course of a few months we may hope to hear of his doing great things towards the introduction of trade among the natives of Africa. He is now independent; and being so thoroughly self-reliant, he will not be one to shrink from any labours which may seem to him a duty. Apart from the story of his adventures, his book is valuable for the incidental glimpses of character it affords, for its plain dealing with the faults and blunders of the Cape government, and with the want of moral conscience among the Boers. We may mention here that Lord Clarendon has promised that a vessel shall be despatched forthwith to explore the Zambesi. Good news this for cutlers and cottonspinners. The first meeting of the Royal Society-the first of a session as important to science as that of parliament is to the nation-was made attractive by General Sabine's viva voce exposition of his paper on the magnetic observations made by the captain and officers Mr Fortune, who has come home, and written a third of the Plover, while they lay for three years at Point book about China, has had an offer from the United Barrow during the search for Franklin. To an States government of the agency for the introduction outsider there may not appear anything very astonish- and culture of Chinese productions within the States. ing in such a work; but these observations are of We are to have now a weekly mail to India, and especial interest, inasmuch as they shew that what are there is some talk of introducing our alphabet for called magnetic storms'-that is, unusual disturb-native use into that country.-At Irkutsk-far away ances of the magnets-take place simultaneously at Point Barrow, and at Toronto in Canada, but in precisely opposite directions. In this opposition General Sabine believes a clue may be found to one of the causes of terrestrial magnetism, and that if observations were made in a spot about midway between the two, a neutral point would in all probability be discovered; and this point once clearly made out, the way, full of promise, would be open for further discoveries. The question is considered to be of such importance that government have been asked to send out an expedition to the arctic coast to make observations about the mouth of Mackenzie River, in which latitude it is thought the neutral point will be found. Three years of observations would be required to furnish trustworthy data, and to admit of the necessary comparison with those made in other places. St Andrew's Day brought, as usual, the anniversary meeting of the Royal Society-their first in Burlington House. Lord Wrottesley, the president, shewed in his address from the chair, that science has not been idle of late: he summed up her achievements, spoke confidently of the future, and then distributed the rewards by which the Society mark their appreciation of meritorious achievements. He gave a royal medal to Professor E. Frankland of St Bartholomew's Hospital for his valuable chemical researches, particularly on the constitution of the alcohols; another to Dr Lindley, the well-known botanist and author of works on botany; and the Copley medal to MichelEugène Chevreul, a French savant to whom chemistry and art are largely indebted. By his investigations and experiments upon saponaceous compounds, he determined the true cause and nature of saponification, and opened thereby the way for a new branch of industry, now highly appreciated by thousands in the form of stearine and composite candles. But for Chevreul's experiments, the obtaining of hard and valuable fats from coarse low-priced oils would probably not yet have been possible, nor would organic chemistry have become the master-science it now is. Although aged, Chevreul still pursues his researches with enthusiasm. His recent work On the Law of the Contrast of Colours, has made his name familiar to a large class of students who are not chemists. We are glad to observe that the Royal Society maintain their within the Arctic Circle-the Russians have a gymnasium or college, in which German was one of the languages taught. By a recent ukase, German is to be dropped in favour of English, or, as the imperial document has it, the American language.' The Russians have a settlement at the mouth of the Amoor, to which the Americans trade; hence, to facilitate intercourse, this language is to be studied in the schools. A few years ago, we gave a brief summary of an American's project for an exploration of the Amoor, and to penetrate to the interior of Tatary along the great stream. News has been received from Mr Palliser, who, as we mentioned some months ago, started with an expedition to explore unknown parts of British North America, between the head-waters of the Missouri and the Saskatchewan. The region comprehends 112,000 square miles, inhabited partly by Indians. A primary object of the expedition is, to find a practicable passage across the Rocky Mountains in that latitude, by which safe communication may be established between Canada and Vancouver's Island-a matter likely to become of great importance. At the date of his dispatches, Mr Palliser was at Red River settlement-a place of which it is said that it has been helped into helplessness; and he intended to winter at Carlton House Fort, and to get across to the Pacific in the course of 1858. He had visited the Kakabaka Falls on White Fish River, which plunge down a height of 171 feet, and he considers that they form a grander spectacle than Niagara. We learn from Norway, that the last winter in Greenland was so unusually severe, that five hundred persons died of hunger, owing to their ordinary supplies being cut off by the terrible weather. Let us hope that the present winter is merciful to Captain M'Clintock and his little band of adventurers who are out to search for relics of Franklin.-We add to this a fact about our own weather. On that wet Thursday, October 22, which broke up the dry season, two and a half inches of rain fell, thus giving in one day more than a tenth of the whole annual rainfall. The London districts included in the Registrargeneral's Reports comprise 78,000 acres, and it has been computed that twenty million tons of water fell within that area on the day in question. BANK-NOTES. of BANKS AS THEY WERE, ARE, AND OUGHT TO BE. BANKERS used to consider themselves [some still do] bound to have a positive knowledge of the soundness of the parties upon whose bills they advanced the money their customers. They discounted, in fact, within the circle of their own acquaintance; they gave legitimate help to legitimate trading, they distributed the help fairly; and they kept, besides, a sufficient reserve to make them easy about the demands of their depositors. Of course, on this system no large interest, if any interest at all, could be allowed upon deposits; and fortunes were not to be made in a few years. their institution.' They could give only one answer-'No.' Let the next question be- When you extended your transactions beyond the limits of your own resources, was it currency as a medium of exchange that you wanted, or capital?' Only one answer could be returned to this question'It was capital. Then let them be asked: 'Do banks supply capital to manufacturers and merchants? They would probably answer, 'Yes; that is one of the objects of the capital which they lend? From their shareholders Whence, then, do the banks derive deficient, do you mean that all the gold and convertible and depositors.' When you say that the currency is bank-notes in the United Kingdom are not sufficient to enable merchants to buy goods and pay debts in any part Gradually, however, has grown up a totally different of the world, provided they possess a legitimate command system, and, under stress of unhealthy competition, bank-over these by having deposits or balances at their credit ing has been driven from its safe and honest course. The banks and bill-brokers have become the upholders of to this question. It could not, consistently with reason, fictitious credit, and the finders of capital for the conduct be in the negative. We should follow it up by asking: Or, of enormous businesses by men of no means. Instead of do you mean that persons who are carrying on trade discounts belonging to real trade, they keep afloat millions greatly beyond the limits of their own resources, and have no balances of their own with their bankers, find it diffiupon millions of bills that represent no value whatever; and uphold a rotten competition, that robs fair traders of cult, especially when their solvency comes to be doubted, their rightful profits, and involves honest men in the ruin to obtain gold and bank-notes, on easy terms, to serve of rogues. The joint-stock banks keep little or no reserve them as capital in sustaining their overgrown transactions ?' of their customers' money: it is out on mortgage, out on The answer to this question would, we think, ships, out on loans at fixed periods, out on bills, out on call bring out the fact, that currency has never been wanting with the bill-brokers. By these shifts, they pay large to those who hold balances with their bankers; and that dividends, and run large risks, at the peril of their share-it has been gold and bank-notes to officiate as capital that holders and depositors. embarrassed traders have really been demanding. Surely no one imagines that the Liverpool Borough Bank, the Western of Scotland, the Staffordshire and Wolverhampton, or the Northumberland and Durham district bank, have been compelled to close their doors from losses in the true business of banking. It is not as bankers, but as traders, as money-lenders, as builders of ships and warehouses, as pushers of trade and stampers of worthless bills for bankrupts or penniless men, that they have failed. The closing of their doors comes of a career deserving exposure and punishment, and the non-exposure of which, more than the failure of the banks, is a public calamity.-R.' in the Leader. The remedy proposed is, that the Bank of England shall charge 1 per cent. additional on re-discounts. CURRENCY AND CAPITAL with their bankers? We should like to hear their answer We should then proceed: When the banks have advanced, in loans and discounts to merchants, all their subscribed capital, and as large a portion of their deposits as they should, in prudence, part with-if these do not suffice to supply the wants of men who are trading on borrowed capital-is it the duty of government to come issue notes for their accommodation, without reference to to the aid of such borrowers, and permit the banks to their ability to convert them into specie on demand?" The answer to this question would, in our opinion, shew that the opponents of the Bank Restriction Act, under the equivoque that the currency is deficient, really demand an unlimited supply of inconvertible bank-notes, which may serve them as capital in maintaining their speculations.Scotsman newspaper. NEW ROMANCE BY MAYNE REID. the commencement of The omission to keep in view the double function performed by gold and convertible bank-notes of serving at once as capital and currency, has led the public mind into inextricable confusion on the subject of restriction, of On the 2d of January 1858 will appear in this Journal which the advocates of unrestricted issues have largely availed themselves. The mystery may be cleared up by calling the managers and directors of the Western Bank, and others in similar circumstances, and the insolvent merchants to whom they have advanced the capital and deposits of their confiding customers, before a committee of the House of Commons, and examining them as to the causes of the present commercial embarrassments. Let the merchants be asked-When you had funds of your own in any of the banks of your district, did you find a difficulty in obtaining currency with which to conduct your exchanges both at home and abroad? | A STORY OF THE SEMINOLE WAR. The present number of the Journal completes the Eighth Volume, for which a title-page and index have been prepared, and may be had of the publishers and their agents. END OF EIGHTH VOLUME. Printed and Published by W. and R. Chambers, |