They are found of all colours in the north seas during the summer; they lose their beauty when taken; and cause blisters on the hands of those that touch them.

MADAME MANSON.

THE following letter was written lately by Madame Manson to the editor of Le Journal des Debats :

"TILL now I have constantly refused to sit for my portrait; indeed, I have taken all possible means to disappoint the schemes of some certain artists, during the trial concerning Fualdes: is it out of revenge for my refusals that they have produced those grotesque and ridiculous figures, to which they have done me the favour of putting my name? This is Madame Manson,' it is said, and curiosity eagerly runs after it.

"Since it is my fate to see my portrait dispersed through every corner of the king. dom, I should wish, at least, it might resemble me, and prove that whatever portraits have hitherto been published of me are only those of fancy and imagination. I will, as much as lies in my power, prevent the French from being duped; and if there are a few individuals who wish to see the likeness of a woman, unfortunately, alas! too celebrated, I can certify that the only painter to whom I have sat is M. GarnierNarcisse, and that the portrait he has taken of me is a faithful resemblance.

"ENJALRAN-MANSON.

"N. B. M. Garnier-Narcisse intends to send this portrait to London, and to other capital cities."

A RELIC OF SUPERSTITION AMONG THE GAEL.

95

PUBLIC AMUSEMENTS IN PARIS.

RECKONING together theatres, balls, concerts, foreign spectacles, evening entertainments, and public gardens, there are, in Paris, one hundred and fourteen places of amusement where it is requisite to pay at the doors to gain admission: added to which there are a number of public houses in the suburbs where the lower classes dance, several rural balls and village fètes. In Paris there are likewise a prodigious number of coffee houses, billiard tables, and gaming-tables, both public and pri vate; and every one of these places are thronged with people, every one of the fifty-two Sundays in the year.

One single Boulevard, that ofthe Temple, within the small space of one hundred and thirty feet, contains five theatres, four or five exhibitions of curiosities, a public garden, and a dozen coffee-houses: some of which are ornamented with as many looking glasses as there were in the whole palace of Versailles, in the time of Louis XIV.; and, thanks to gas-lights, better illuminated than the palaces of the Cæsars, when in all the height of their glory.

People of cynical manners will assert, that the increasing number and splendour of these numerous places of dissipation, are proofs of the deplorable corruption of morals in the present age: while, in the eye of the optimist, it seems the gratifying testimony of the progress of industry, and the increase of wealth and ease among the inferior classes of society. Probably there may be something of that: but when they give also that as a proof of the progress of the arts to the attainment of perfection, it is no such thing. This myriad of theatres, from that in the Rue Transonain to the theatre of the Porte St. Martin, does not prevent the Parisians from feeling how difficult it will be to get the Theatre Fran

ever replace Fleury, Saint-Prix, Caumont, and Mademoiselle Raucourt?

BIRTHS.

At Grove-House, Blackheath, the Right Hon. the Countess of Huntingdon, of a son. We understand it is Lord Huntingdon's intention to commemorate his succession to the title, by naming this boy Robin Hood.

At Xeres, in Spain, the lady of John David Gordon, Esq. jun. of Wardhouse, Aberdeenshire, of a son.

MARRIED.

By special licence, at St. George's church,

Hanover-square, by the Hon. and Rev. the Dean

of Windsor, the Marquis of Bute, to the Lady Maria North, eldest daughter of the late George, Earl of Guildford. The bride was given away by his Royal Highness the Duke of York.

Charles Aston, eldest son of Dr. Key, of London, to Anne, third daughter of the late Rev. Samuel Lovick Cooper, of Great Yarmouth,

In Dublin, in the 83d year of his age, Cornely, the father of the Irish stage, and the contemporary of Edwin, Shuter, O'Reilly, and Ryder. In his time he was an excellect come. dian, and the particular friend and companion of O'Keeffe.

At Brompton, in the 75th year of her age, deeply regretted by her family and friends, Miss Pope, of Newman-street, Oxford-street, formerly of the Theatre Royal, Drury-lane.

At Dundee, in the 100th year of his age, John Fraser, a native of Strathspey, and one of the few remaining adherents of Prince Charles Stuart-having fought under that unfortunate Prince

in 1745 and 1746.

At his house, Broad-court, Long-acre, aged 56, Mr. Thomas Goold, wholesale fruiterer of Covent-garden market. He was a sincere friend, and truly honest man; much esteemed by those who had the pleasure of knowing him, and re

DIED.

At his Lordship's seat, Port Eliot, Cornwall, the Countess of St. Germains.

At his house, in St. James's-square, Viscount Anson. His Lordship, who was descended from a sister of the first Lord Anson, and who inherited the estates of that family, was born in 1767, and was created a Peer, by patent, in 1806. He was married, in 1794, to the second daughter of T. W. Coke, Esq. of Norfolk. There are seven surviving children of this marriage; of whom, Thomas William, the eldest son, born in 1795,

succeeds to the title and estates.

In Grosvenor-place, after a lingering illness, the Right Hon. General Lord Muncaster, aged 73. His Lordship inherited the title and estates on the death of his brother, in 1813, and is succeeded in both by his only son, the Hon. Lowther Angustus John Pennington, a minor.

In the 76th year of his age, Francis Newbery, Esq. of St. Paul's Church-yard.

Mr Abraham Thornton, sen. farmer, of Castle Bromwich, Warwickshire, father of Abraham Thornton, tried and acquitted of the murder of Mary Ashford.

Lately, in the United States of America, Sir John Oldmixon, once known in fashionable life, but having retired from this country about twenty-five years ago, he sunk into obscurity, and has died neglected and forgotten.

Lately, at Paris, in the 70th year of his age, M. Monge, one of the greatest geometricians of the age, and a distinguished member of the French institute. He was one of the men of science who formed part of Bonaparte's expedition to Egypt.

member: he has left a widow to bemoan his irreparable loss.

At the Ville of Dunkirk, near Boughton-underthe-Blean, David Ferguson, aged 124 years.Ferguson was a Scotchman, but had resided in the Ville of Dunkirk between fifty and sixty years; he was, until a few years back, a very industrious, active, and hard-working labourer. The following account which he gave of himself is extracted from a memoir of this remarkable old man, lately published: -" He was born at Netherud, in the parish of Kirkuid, about ten miles north of Drumieguir, the youngest of fifteen children; his father's name was James, his mother's maiden name Somerville. He was at school at Dunsgre, in Lanarkshire, about nine miles from Lanark; his mother's friends came from Niebiken, in the parish of Carnwaith; he was bred a shoemaker at Linton, on the Dumfries road, about three miles from Cair Muir; he first entered into the army in a regiment of dragoons called the Glasgow Grays (not the present Scots Grays); after this he served in the 70th regiment; that he was about twelve or thirteen years old at the battle of Sheriff Muir; was at the battle of Malplaquet; remembers Queen Anne, and has seen the Duke of Marlborough in England; he recollects Lord Stair calling upon his father, who was a farmer, and left the estate of Cair Muir, in consequence of Lawson, of Cair Muir, throwing three farms into one for sheep." The remains of the old man were interred in Boughton Church-yard, attended by a numerous assemblage of both old and young persons; and one common sentiment of regret seemed to pervade all classes, at the last farewell of their old friend, who was universally beloved.