Soon after daylight we mustered at quarters, and found that 16 officers and men were killed, and 120 wounded; the three lower masts badly wounded, every spar wounded, except the spanker-boom; the shrouds cut in all parts, leaving the masts unsupported, which would have fallen had there been the least motion; the running gear entirely cut to pieces; the boats all shot through; the bulwarks riddled with grape and musketry; 96 round-shot in the starboard side, some of them between wind and water; the guns were all uninjured to any extent, and remained, the only part of the Leander, efficient.

The ship's company were again at work, clearing decks, unbending sails, and making every preparation to renew the action; but at noon we had the satisfaction to hear that the Dey had accepted the terms which were offered him the day before; at the same time that this information was conveyed to the squadron, a general order was issued to offer up "public thanksgiving to Almighty God for the signal victory obtained by the arms of England."—United Service Journal.

THE GATHERER

"A snapper-up of unconsidered trifles."

SHAKSPEARE.

THE RANZ DES VACHES

The Kurieholen, or Ranz des Vaches, the celebrated national air of the Swiss, does not consist in articulated sounds, nor is it accompanied by words; but is a simple melody formed by a kind of guttural intonation very closely resembling the tones of a flute. Two of these voices at a short distance produce the most pleasing effect, the echoes of the surrounding rocks reverberating the music till it seems like enchantment; but sometimes the illusion is dissipated by the appearance of the singers, in the persons of two old women, returning from their labour in a neighbouring valley.

INA

NAPOLEON

During a tour through France shortly before Bonaparte's accession to the throne he received the addresses of the Priests and Prefects, who vied with each other in the grossness and impiety of their adulation. The Prefect of the Pas de Calais seems to have borne away the palm from all his brethren. On Napoleon's entrance into his department, he addressed him in the following manner:—"Tranquil with respect to our fate, we know that to ensure the happiness and glory of France, to render to all people the freedom of commerce and the seas, to humble the audacious destroyers of the repose of the universe, and to fix, at length, peace upon the earth, God created Bonaparte, and rested from his labour!"

INA

APOSTLES

In the diplomatic language of Charles I.'s time, were marginal notes, generally in the king's hand, written on the margin of state papers. The word, in somewhat a similar sense, had its origin in the canon law. There are many instances of apostles by Charles I. in Archbishop Laud's Diary

JAMES SILVESTER

When Voltaire was at Berlin, he wrote this epigram on his patron and host the king of Prussia:—

"King, author, philosopher, hero, musician, Freemason, economist, bard, politician, How had Europe rejoiced if a Christian he'd been, If a man, how he then had enraptured his queen."

For this effort of wit, Voltaire was paid with thirty lashes on his bare back, administered by the king's sergeant-at-arms, and was compelled to sign the following curious receipt for the same:—

"Received from the righthand of Conrad Backoffner, thirty lashes on my bare back, being in full for an epigram on Frederick the Third, King of Prussia."

I say received by me, VOLTAIRE.

Vive le Roi!

The church at Gondhurst, in Kent, is a fine old building, and remarkable for several reasons; one of which is, that thirty-nine different parishes may be distinctly seen from it, and in clear weather the sea, off Hastings, a distance of twenty-seven miles and a half.

SPECULATION

Sir William Adams, afterwards Sir William Rawson, which name he took in consequence of some property he succeeded to by right of his wife, was one of the victims of the South American mining mania. He plunged deeply into speculation, and wrote pamphlets to prove that so much gold and silver must ultimately find its way into Europe from Mexico, that all the existing relations of value would be utterly destroyed. He believed what he wrote, though he failed to demonstrate what he believed. At one period he might have withdrawn himself from all his speculations with at least a hundred thousand pounds in his pocket; but he fancied he had discovered the philosopher's stone—dreamed of wealth beyond what he could count—went on—was beggared—and you know how and where he died. Poor fellow! He deserved a better fate. He was a kind-hearted creature; and if he coveted a princely fortune, I am satisfied he would have used it like a prince. But I am forgetting my story. Well, then, it was after he had totally relinquished his profession as an oculist, that he might devote his entire time and attention to the Mexican mining affairs, that a gentleman, ignorant of the circumstance, called upon him one morning to consult him. Sir William looked at him for a moment, and then exclaimed, in the words of Macbeth, addressing Banquo's ghost, "Avaunt—there is no speculation in those eyes!"

Monthly Magazine.

THE SUPPLEMENT to Vol. xiii. containing Title, Preface, Index, &c. with a fine Steel-plate PORTRAIT of the late SIR HUMPHRY DAVY, Bart. and a copious Memoir of his Life and Discoveries—will be published with the next Number.

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The Mirror of Literature, Amusement, and Instruction. Volume 13, No. 377, June 27, 1829

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THE GATHERER

THE RANZ DES VACHES

INA

NAPOLEON

INA

APOSTLES

JAMES SILVESTER

SPECULATION

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