which will be found to be as varied in their con wealthy of the nobles of medieval England, in the curious and instructive inventory (Inventory of Humphrey de Bohun, Earl of Hereford, time of Edward II.) of his property which has come down to us, should have grouped his rosary of coral with the most precious of his personal possessions.-Art Journal. VARIETIES. The Origin of the Salt in the Dead Sea.-One of our most distinguished explorers of the Holy Land attributes the intensely saline character of the Dead Sea to the hill of Jebell Us lun. Tais is a huge ridge of salt, about a mile wide, and Works of Art in coral are not easily described -not easy to be described in such words as will convey an adequate and correct idea of their merit and their beauty. They require to be seen in order to be understood, and consequently to be appreciated. The delicacy and beauty of their tints, the rich gracefulness of their texture, their faculty of forming infinitely varied combinations, the felicity with which they may be grouped with goldsmith's work in the precious metals, and the sharp, yet tender firmness of their carved and sculptured froms-these all are qualities to be estimated by the eye alone. In place, therefore, of any attempts at elaborate description, we prefer to suggest visits to the collections themselves, tents as in their capacity; as works of the gold-running N. E. and S. W. for a distance of three smith's art they are worthy of all praise. It will be understood that every conceivable variety of ornament has been produced in abundance by Mr. Phillips in this beautiful substance; and also that on particular works in coral there has been lavished the concentration of the powers of the most skillful, laborious, and accomplished of artists and artist-workmen. We shall not specify any particular examples; but we advise a personal examination of all-from the simple unwrought fragment of pure coral, in its natural forms, and from the strings of beads, to the most elaborately carved cameos and bunches of flowers and foliage, and the figures that are sculptured so boldy, and finished with such masterly taste. Whether this coral is in its nature identical with the coral of the great reefs of the Pacificthose wondrous ever-growing sea-walls that rise as if self-reared from out of the depths of ocean -is a matter that it is not our present purpose to discuss. This identity is generally accepted as a matter of course-the coral of the Bay of Naples and of the Sardinian waters of the Mediterranean, and the coral of the open ocean in the farthest West, is all "coral." But there is, nevertheless, more than a slight structural difference between the coral which grows under Mr. Phillips's teaching, into beads, and bracelets, and brooches, and tiaras, and even statuettes, and the reef-growth that advances steadily in the face of the perpetual lashing of ocean-breakers that know no rest. The reet-coral, certainly, is formed by myriads of coral-insects. Did not the Art-coral once sprout as a plant? Mr. Phillips can show some curious and suggestive specimens, that have a strange sectional as well as a decided ramitying resemblance to small branches of trees or shrubs. The English collections of works of Art and coral, of which we have now been speaking, are second to none, either in Italy or elsewhere, in extent, excellence, or value. Some idea of the last-named quality of these works in coral may be formed, when we add that the intrinsic value of the finest varieties of Neapolitan gem-coral is more than five times that of gold. This general statement may be illustrated by a particular example; we select, as such an example, a necklace that may now be seen at Cockspur Street; it consists of thirty-two coral beads, graduated in size, perfect in form, and of exquisite delicacy in their tint and tone of color, and its value is one thousand guineas. This enables us to understand how it was that one of the most powerful and miles and a half, and then due N. and S. for four miles further. It is situated near the southern extremity of the Dead Sea, and renders that portion of it much more salt than the northern portion. Further, Mr. Tristram thinks that it is the proximate cause of the saltness of the Dead Sea, the drainage to which has been dissolving away portions of salt, and carrying it to the Dead Sea ever since the elevation of the ridge of Akabah separated the latter from the Red Sea, or since the desiccation of the ocean, which existed to the Eocene period, presuming (which seems most probable) that the fissures of the Ghor were of submarine origin, and that the valley itself was, during the Tertiary period, the northernmost of a series of African lakes, of which the Red Sea was the next.-Vide Geological Magazine, June, 1865. Seat of the old Saxon Kings. To the historian and the archæologist the village of Bosham, situated a few mile to the westward of the city of Chichester, is a place of considerable interest. It was a place of some importance in the earliest times of which we have record, and is more than once mentioned in the old Saxon chronicles. The Saxon kings lived here, and the remains of an old forest still passes by the name of Old Park. Canute's daughter was buried in Bosham Church; and it is more probable that, if the story of Canute's lecturing his courtiers on the sea-shore be true, the incident took place here rather than at Southampton. This was the first place upon the Sussex coast in which Christianity was taught for when Wilfrid landed at Selsey, about the year 680, he found a poor monastery already existing at Bosham. It was from this place that Harold started when he visited Normandy; and Bosham Church makes a conspicuous feature near the commencement of the Bayeux tapestry. It had long been acknowledged that the tower of Bosham Church was a Saxon work, and that it was the highest tower built at that period in the kingdom; recent discoveries show that there is a great deal of undoubted Saxon work in other parts of the building. There is a small crypt, several interesting monuments, a Saxon font, a very old chest, some good carved wood work, and other things of interest about this church. The works of restoration is going on under the management of the vicar, the Rev. H. Mitchell, F.S.A. Origin and Migration of the Greenland Esquimaux.—In a paper recently read before the ship with an elegant pair of white gloves beautifully embroidered, ornamented with Brussels lace, and having the city arms embossed in frosted silver on the back of each glove. His lordship, on receiving the gloves, added "that the absence of crime was highly creditable to the magistrates, as well as the inhabitants, and he hoped they might, on many future occasions, have the gratification of making to other judges a similar present." The white color may indicate innocence, as Lord Campbell suggests; but why a pair of gloves should be given is not explained. The only statement we have seen is as follows: "It is one of the few relics of that symbolism so observable in the early laws of this, as of all other countries. Its origin is doubtless to be found in the fact of the hand being, in the early Germanic laws, a symbol of power. By the hand, property was delivered over or re-claimed, hand joined in hand to strike a bargain, and to celebrate espousals. That this symbolism should sometimes be transferred from the hand to the glove is but natural, and it is in this transfer that we shall find the origin of the white gloves in question. At a Maiden Assize no criminal has been called upon to plead, or, to use the words of Blackstone, called upon by name to hold up his hand;' in short, no guilty hand has been held up, and therefore our judges have been accustomed to be presented with white gloves." Royal Geographical Society, by Mr. Markham, the secretary, it was stated that until within the last nine centuries not a single individual tenanted the vast continent of Greenland, and far beyond this remote period trees and shrubs flourished and blossomed on the slope of Disco, and flowers decked the waving pastures in the more genial climate of Blanksland and Melville Island; and in the now ice-bound waters of Barrow's Straits, corals, sea-palms, sponges, and gaily-tinted zoophytes lived and throve. At a later period the hardy old Norsemen held this land against the Esquimaux (the original possessors, and who appear to have migrated from the wilds of Siberia; the Norsemen seem to have dwindled away until the few remaining occupied two small villages in remote parts of the country. Years rolled away, and when Greenland was again visited, all record that remained of the "sea-kings" were a few Runic inscriptions, some crumbling ruins, and the fragments of the church bells that once tolled at Gardar. Central Asia was, in all probability, the original home of the Esquimaux, although, in all likelihood, other tribes preceded them. The route chosen by these poor wanderers is rendered clear by the discovery, by nearly all Arctic explorers, of evidences of human existence, in the shape of ruined huts, fragments of carved bone, traps, and fishing-spears on Bathurst, Melville, Baring, and other islands-means to enable them to sustain life amidst the desolation surrounding THE QUEEN. This new and magnificent them, as they crept along by slow degrees from steam-ship of 3,500 tons burden of the National Baring Island to Cape Warrender, until at last Steam Navigation Company's Line, Capt. Fred. on the Greenland coast they found a resting-place. Grogan commander, arrived from Liverpool Sept. It is supposed that part of these hordes went south-5th, in twelve days, bringing 1,400 passengers, ward, drove out the Norsemen, and peopled Greenland. The remainder wandered still farther north, and would most likely progress as long as the conditions for existence were attainable. In all their traditions the Esquimaux maintain a firm belief in the existence of an iceless sea far away north. To discover the northern remnant of these strange people would be one great feature in any new Polar expedition.-Leisure Hour. and 1,500 tons of freight. She is 400 feet in length, 43 feet breadth, 30 feet deep, of beautiful model and immense proportions, strong as iron and wood can make her. We make this notice as a good service to our many friends, especially clergymen, who may be going to Europe at some time, inspiring them with confidence in this line of ships, and in her ample accommodations and comforts as an ocean boat. The cabin fare is $100. in greenbacks, instead of gold, a saving of The Judge's White Gloves.-It is quite possible some $50. over other ships. A word to the wise. for a national custom to be so long existing as to We commend this line of ships to the attention have outlived nearly all knowledge of the very of our friends, at Pier 47, North River. The cause which gave rise to it. The claim of the agents are Williams and Guyon, 71 Wall street, judge to be presented with a pair of white gloves New York; W. B. Macalister Esq. General at a Maiden Assize is a case of the kind. To Manager, Liverpool. give an instance: The late Lord Campbell, as reported in "The Lincolnshire Chronicle," March BUNKER HILL MONUMENT.We have received 14th, 1856, in his address to the Grand Jury, a copy, beautifully printed, of the Proceedings of said, "He had received the joyful news that there the Bunker Hill Monument Association at the anwas not a single prisoner in the gaol for trial-a nual meeting, June 17th, 1865. The Hon. Washcircumstance, so far as the city was concerned, ington Warren, President of the Association, demost creditable to the inhabitants and to all who livered an eloquent address on the occasion, in presided over them. He (Lord Campbell) began which he paid a fitting tribute to the memory and his official duties as judge in that city six years character of the late Hon. Edward Everett, as ago, and now, for the third time during that did also the Hon. Robert C. Winthrop, in a paper period, he had presided at a Maiden Assize. On prepared for the occasion. The death of Presieach occasion he had been presented with a pair of dent Lincoln was appropriately noticed, and the white gloves as a token of the innocence of the whole proceedings were of a high order and hiscity, and he should again gladly claim them." toric interest, worthy the name and deeds which The city sheriff then rose and presented his lord-have been achieved on Bunker Hill. Frazer's Magazine. NOVEMBER, 1865. W-Hall, 22nd February, 1840. READING this day in L'Eveque's History of Russia about the great difference of opinion still existing with regard to the false Demetrius, I was particularly struck by the great dearth of the evidence of contemporaries and eye-witnesses of the events of that remarkable period, and L'Eveque himself remarks that such evi The following pages are extracted from a Memoir written by the late General S off, and transmitted after his death, which took place in 1848 of cholera, by his directions, to the friend who now offers them to the public under the impression that truth of local color and detail often confers a certain value on pictures, wholly independent of regularity of composition. My deceased friend's style of writing English is that of a forNEW SERIES-Vol. II., No. 5. 1 Old Series Com dence is most important to history, as eye-witnesses alone can confirm its truth. Having been myself an eye-witness of all the events that occurred during the reign of the Emperor Paul I. of Russia, and during the whole of that period attached to the court, where I had opportunities of knowing all that passed in or about it; having been, also, personally acquainted with the Emperor himself, and every member of this Imperial family, as well as with all the leading men of the period, I have determined to put on paper all that I remember of the events of those interesting years, and thereby, eigner, as the reader will immediately perceive; it is, however, perfectly intelligible and not disagreeable, for which reason only a few trifling alterations have been made, and the author's own words are here reproduced as nearly as possible literally. It seemed, however, advisable to abridge some few diffused anecdotes, and omit altogether certain allusions to domestic afflictions, by General S off, while employed in jotting down his reminiscences, as these possessed no interest for the general reader; but beyond this, no alteration has been made in the original manuscript.-Edtor of Article. 33 acter of Paul I., who was certainly no ordinary man. perhaps, throw a new light on the char-ed the utmost affability to their guests. All the high officers of the court as well as the domestics belonged to the household of the Empress, and did weekly duty in the two establishments, and all the expenses were paid out of the same privy purse, called the Cabinet. The Empress Catherine used herself to attend the public entertainments at her son's most graciously, and after the "first entrée" mixed familiarly with the company, not permitting the usual etiquette of her own court to be enforced. The reader of the following pages must not think me presumptuous if he finds me speaking much of myself, of many of my friends, and of the regiment in which I served. I introduce most of these particulars as evidence of my having been personally "in contact with those times," and of the truth of the facts which I relate, on which the interest of this narrative, if any, mainly depends. At the period of the accession of the Emperor Paul I. to the throne of Russia, I was in my twenty-first year, and a second-lieutenant in the regiment of Horse Guards, and had previously served two years as sous-officer, and four years as officer in the same regiment.* I had also traveled much abroad and been presented at most of the courts of both Germany and Italy, and had consequently mixed much in the highest society both at home and abroad. My father saw much company at his house, where the Ministers of State and Corps Diplomatique were in the habit of meeting familiarly; so that my mind, although young, was pretty well prepared to observe and pay attention to all passing events. To this I must add that being also acquainted with several foreign languages, I took a lively interest in political discussions, and was particularly fond of reading newspapers. I shall now go back for a moment to the period immediately preceding the accession of the Emperor, as a knowledge of what then took place will serve to explain and throw light on many subsequent occurrences which would be otherwise difficult to understand. As Grand Duke, Paul Petrovich had with his consort one very magnificent apartment in the Winter Palace at St. Petersburg, and another in that of Czarskoje Selo. In these they held their levees and drawing-rooms, and also gave dinners, soirées, and balls in very brilliant style, on which occasions they show When sous-officer I was orderly of FieldMarshal Count Soltikoff, and on duty every alternate week, when I had to accompany him wherever he went, and thus frequently came in his suit into the ante-room of the Empress Catherine II.'s cabinet. The Grand Duke Paul was in outward appearance always most respectful to his mother, although it was very well known that he did not join the Russian nation in their love, gratitude, and admiration towards her. The Grand Duchess, his wife, however, loved Catherine like a tender daughter, and this affection was most thoroughly reciprocated. Paul's children, the young Grand Dukes and Duchesses, were brought up under the care of their grandmother, the Empress, who on all occasions consulted their mother.† Besides the above-mentioned apartments in the two imperial palaces, the Grand Duke Paul had a very comfortable palace called Kammenoy Ostroff, on one of the islands in the Neva; and at this villa the Grand Duke and Duchess gave very gay and select parties, at which jeux d'esprit, theatricals, in fact, everything that wit and gallantry had invented 66 aux anciennes cours de France," were represented. The Grand Duchess was herself a most beautiful woman, very modest in her manner, even to the appearance of prudery, and as sedate, some said dull, as virtue and decorum could make her. Paul, on the contrary, was full of wit, humor, and animal spirits, and never failed to distinguish by his peculiar attentions those who shone in the same way. The most brilliant star of the court circle was a young person who had been made Demoiselle d'Honneur on account of the superior talents she had shown during her education at the Convent des De-. moiselles-her name was Catherine Nel + Generals Protosoff and Sacken were governors of the Grand Dukes, and the Baroness de Lieven governess of the Grand Duchesses and the confidential friend of their mother. idoff. In person she was the very reverse of the Grand Duchess, who was tall, fair, inclined to embonpoint, and very short-sighted; while Mademoiselle de Nelidoff was petite brunette, with dark hair, sparkling black eyes, and a face full of expression.* She was a most elegant and sprightly dancer, and astonishingly quick and clever in her conversation, which was, however, generally of a reserved character. Paul did not long remain indifferent to so many attractions; the Grand Duke was, however, not an immoral man; he was virtuous both in his purposes and intentions; he abhorred profligacy, was much attached to his beautiful wife, and had not the least suspicion that a witty ladronne could ever so bewitch him as to make him fall distractedly in love with her. He therefore freely indulged in what he considered to be a mere liaison Platonique, and this was the beginning of his extravagances. The Empress Catherine, who knew the human heart far better than her son did, was deeply grieved on account of her daughter-in-law. She soon sent her son to travel with his wife, and gave the strictest injunctions that no expense should be spared to render their tour through Europe as brilliant and entertaining as money and her influence at the various courts they visited could make it. They traveled under the incognito of Comte et Comtesse du Nord; and it is well known that the wit and cleverness of the Count, the beauty of the Countess, and the affability of both, left the most favorable impressions of them in the countries they visited. in addition the best instructors of the day, many of them foreigners of great distinction in the literary world; his religious education had been most particularly attended to, and Paul was up to the day of his death most devoutly disposed; even now the places where he used to kneel, absorbed in solitary prayer, and often bathed in tears, are pointed out, and the parquet is actually worn by his knees. Count Panin belonged to several masonic lodges, and the Grand Duke was introduced to some of them; in short, nothing was kept back from him that could contribute to his physical, moral, or intellectual improvement. Paul was one of the best horsemen of his day, and had distinguished himself at caroussels at an early age; he knew the Sclavonic, the Russian, French, and German languages to perfection, had some knowledge of Latin, was well versed in history, geography, and mathematics, and spoke and wrote with great fluency and correctness. Two principal assistants had acted under Count Panin in conducting the education of the Grand Duke: the one, Sergey Plest cheff, post-captain in the navy, the other Baron Nicolay, a native of Strasburg. M. de Plestcheff had served in the British navy, was a distinguished officer, and a man of general information, but particularly well versed in Russian literature; Baron Nicolay was a savant who had resided at Strasburg, and distinguished himself as the author of various works. Both these gentlemen attended Paul during his tour through Europe. Plestcheff published subsequently Les Voyages du Comte et de la Comtesse du Nord, and both remained attached to, and influential with, the Emperor to the very end of his career. At Vienna, Naples, and Paris, Paul imbibed those high aristocratic ideas and tastes, subsequently so little in harmony with the spirit of the times, which led him into great excesses in his endeavors to maintain the manners and customs of the ancien régime, at a time that the French Revolution was sweeping away everything of the kind from the conti It must not be supposed that the early education of the Grand Duke Paul had been neglected; far from it, Catherine had certainly done every thing within human means to give her son such an education as would render him capable and worthy of reigning over the vast empire of Russia. Count Panin, the most distinguished statesman of his day, respected both at home and abroad for his integrity, high moral conduct, sincere piety and education, had been Paul's gov-nent of Europe. But however mischievernor. His Imperial Highness had had * Strange enough, another Mademoiselle Nelidoff appeared in a similar manner at the Court of the Emperor Nicholas.-Editor of Article. †The officers' guard-room, in which I sat when on duty at Gachina, was next to his private closet; and I have frequently heard the groaning of the Emperor Paul when at prayers. |